SOP

Errol Morris's Standard Operating Procedures documents the Abu Ghraib prison scandal. The film is a true documentary, and one that does not purport to be objective, neutral or unbiased. Morris clearly wants to draw attention to the abuse scandal and also to bring to life the still photographs that became so famous in the news media. Journalists only had access to the scandalous photographs, so Morriss takes viewers much deeper: into the minds of military officials and the soldiers involved.

Directly addressing interview subjects is a standard documentary tactic. Although the direct-address interviews are not doctored like they might be had Stephen Colbert been the producer, Standard Operating Procedures seems to entrap the interview subjects in ways they might not have been aware. The truth is told from the mouths of those involved: including the young woman whose picture made the scandal famous because of her standing with blindfolded, naked, and humiliated prisoners.

The point Morris makes is that such tactics were standard military operating procedures: authorized by military personnel by orders from the highest echelons of government. Morris uncovers a few more layers of truth than might be found on a nighttime CNN broadcast. By interviewing the subjects in ways that offers them a chance to deliver a monologue, Morris offers the illusion of detachment. Yet Morris is framing the theme of Standard Operating Procedures just as he frames his subjects on screen: deliberately and with a clear agenda. Morris wants the viewing audience to feel angry at the Bush administration for the tactics used at Abu Ghraib. Just in case Americans sympathized with the administration's use of torture tactics, Morris wants to drive home the notion that cruelty can never be standardized without sacrificing core American values. However, Morris ends up creating a truth just as Michael Moore might do. Both directors are adept in their work, and both deliver factual evidence. Yet both also present the world from their own eyes: which is what a documentary filmmaker is entitled to do anyway.