Chris Knipp
04-15-2014, 10:50 AM
Errol Morris: The Unknown Known (2013)
http://www.chrisknipp.com/newpictures/rums.jpg
DONALD RUMSFELD IN THE UNKNOWN KNOWN
The unsaid unsaid
Erroll Morris' documentary film about Donald Rumsfeld obviously parallels his Oscar-winning 2003 The Fog of War: Eleven Lessons from the Life of Robert S. McNamara. Rumsfeld and McNamara, the first defense secretary under Bush, the second under Kennedy, both presided over US entry into disastrous wars, Iraq and Vietnam. The Fog of War, however, is a masterpiece. The Unknown Known most definitely is not. Two simple reasons: the subject is tougher and the filmmaker has grown softer.
McNamara fought valiantly to defend his actions in Vietnam, but he had developed moral compunctions, which Morris teases out in the other film. Rumsfeld's smirking cleverness and self-satisfaction remain airtight, and Morris, though he speaks more than he did in the McNamara film, doesn't challenge him enough. He chooses merely to show the man's contradictions and errors by editing in other earlier statements, rather than getting admissions on camera now. Hence, the result is inferior and this new film is a disappointment.
As a compensation, Morris does, as usual, skillful and polished work. His pace is good, his technique impeccable, the film's look elegant. The film provides a detailed review of Rumsfeld's career, a remarkable one from Nixon through Bush. Rumsfeld, now 81 and seemingly in fine fettle, speaks freely enough when his own errors or tight spots are not involved, and Unknown Known is informative. The 40-plus years of Rumsfeld's experience in government make it that. On the other hand the wider scope (compared to the McNamara story) diffuses the focus of the new film and weakens it.
The title itself signals an opportunity missed. It comes from a famous memo and press conference line of Rumsfeld's: "There are known knowns. There are known unknowns. There are unknown unknowns. But there are also unknown knowns. That is to say things you think you know that it turns out you did not." Morris fails to dissect this. The point is that it's smart and reasonable, yet also preening gobledegook, a mocking, show-offy smokescreen. Rumsfeld's smirking self-assertiveness, throughout, goes unchallenged. It is merely shown. And by the way, in the press conference, Rumsfeld's emphasis was on "unknown unknowns, things we do not know we don't know." But it's all about ignorance, a point a stronger questioner might have teased out of Rumsfeld on camera, if anything could be teased out of him. The key point is that the Bush administration went to war against Iraq on false pretenses, and they don't care. Rumsfeld shows here his willingness to dodge the issue is as firm as ever.
Donald Rumsfeld seems less interesting than Robert S. McNamara, not an idealist, not a self-reflective man, a bureaucrat, his clam to fame perhaps the unprecedented "million" memos or "blizzard" of "snowflakes" he issued while in office. To do the man credit, despite their excessive quantity, they seem in the few examples given to be succinct and well-worded. Their purpose, or effect, this film does not delve into.
The music by Danny Elfman most welcomely lacks the grating, "meaningful" intrusiveness of the throbbing sound current political docs with a bone to pick are plagued with. So this is a good watch. But one comes away hungry.
Morris' 2008 documentary, Standard Operating Procedure (http://www.chrisknipp.com/writing/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=1014&view=next), was better than this, but also a disappointment. Its study of the Abu Ghraib scandal was microscopic in detail, but too narrow in its focus.
The Unknown Known, 103 mins. debuted at Telluride, also showed at Venice. It opened theatrically in the US 4 April 2014.
http://www.chrisknipp.com/newpictures/rums.jpg
DONALD RUMSFELD IN THE UNKNOWN KNOWN
The unsaid unsaid
Erroll Morris' documentary film about Donald Rumsfeld obviously parallels his Oscar-winning 2003 The Fog of War: Eleven Lessons from the Life of Robert S. McNamara. Rumsfeld and McNamara, the first defense secretary under Bush, the second under Kennedy, both presided over US entry into disastrous wars, Iraq and Vietnam. The Fog of War, however, is a masterpiece. The Unknown Known most definitely is not. Two simple reasons: the subject is tougher and the filmmaker has grown softer.
McNamara fought valiantly to defend his actions in Vietnam, but he had developed moral compunctions, which Morris teases out in the other film. Rumsfeld's smirking cleverness and self-satisfaction remain airtight, and Morris, though he speaks more than he did in the McNamara film, doesn't challenge him enough. He chooses merely to show the man's contradictions and errors by editing in other earlier statements, rather than getting admissions on camera now. Hence, the result is inferior and this new film is a disappointment.
As a compensation, Morris does, as usual, skillful and polished work. His pace is good, his technique impeccable, the film's look elegant. The film provides a detailed review of Rumsfeld's career, a remarkable one from Nixon through Bush. Rumsfeld, now 81 and seemingly in fine fettle, speaks freely enough when his own errors or tight spots are not involved, and Unknown Known is informative. The 40-plus years of Rumsfeld's experience in government make it that. On the other hand the wider scope (compared to the McNamara story) diffuses the focus of the new film and weakens it.
The title itself signals an opportunity missed. It comes from a famous memo and press conference line of Rumsfeld's: "There are known knowns. There are known unknowns. There are unknown unknowns. But there are also unknown knowns. That is to say things you think you know that it turns out you did not." Morris fails to dissect this. The point is that it's smart and reasonable, yet also preening gobledegook, a mocking, show-offy smokescreen. Rumsfeld's smirking self-assertiveness, throughout, goes unchallenged. It is merely shown. And by the way, in the press conference, Rumsfeld's emphasis was on "unknown unknowns, things we do not know we don't know." But it's all about ignorance, a point a stronger questioner might have teased out of Rumsfeld on camera, if anything could be teased out of him. The key point is that the Bush administration went to war against Iraq on false pretenses, and they don't care. Rumsfeld shows here his willingness to dodge the issue is as firm as ever.
Donald Rumsfeld seems less interesting than Robert S. McNamara, not an idealist, not a self-reflective man, a bureaucrat, his clam to fame perhaps the unprecedented "million" memos or "blizzard" of "snowflakes" he issued while in office. To do the man credit, despite their excessive quantity, they seem in the few examples given to be succinct and well-worded. Their purpose, or effect, this film does not delve into.
The music by Danny Elfman most welcomely lacks the grating, "meaningful" intrusiveness of the throbbing sound current political docs with a bone to pick are plagued with. So this is a good watch. But one comes away hungry.
Morris' 2008 documentary, Standard Operating Procedure (http://www.chrisknipp.com/writing/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=1014&view=next), was better than this, but also a disappointment. Its study of the Abu Ghraib scandal was microscopic in detail, but too narrow in its focus.
The Unknown Known, 103 mins. debuted at Telluride, also showed at Venice. It opened theatrically in the US 4 April 2014.