Errol Morris Standard Operating Procedure

Over the years one has started to trust words such as ‘documentary’ and ‘documentarist’ less and less. Propaganda and pamphletists with agendas from this or that side are doing well. In a time when good/bad, black/white, and all sorts of opposites seem to be the most common ways to deal with subject matters, it is refreshing to watch a non-fiction filmmaker approaching his interests with a certain calmness.

Errol Morris used to make his living as a private investigator. Applying this experience to his films, like a badger he digs deeper and turns them into investigations – whether they be of crime scenes (The Thin Blue Line), the universe (A Brief History of Time), or people in power (The Fog of War). From the restless student who found his way into a film archive, convinced that he could do a better job with the programming, to the Academy Award-winning filmmaker, Morris’ journey has led him into the company of the most legendary filmmakers of the United States. Morris has achieved a level of respect and such a quality of work that it’s easy to see his name on a page next to those such as Wiseman and Pennebaker, however different their approaches and interests might be.

In 2003 with his film The Fog of War: Eleven Lessons from the Life of Robert S. McNamara, Morris focused not on Rumsfeld’s rules but on the life lessons of former U.S. Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara. The quest to comprehend the many variables of life, power and leadership by revisiting history resulted in one of the most interesting and acute films of recent years. Supported by Philip Glass’ soundtrack - the third time he and Morris had worked together, a fascinating and rarely seen event is witnessed as McNamara gives his views and tells the story of his life from serving in the Second World War to running the Ford Motor company. His time in the Kennedy and Johnson administrations was notably marked by the Cuban Missile Crisis and the war in Vietnam. While others may have pointed accusing fingers, Morris gives time and space, going after the complexities that surround McNamara and everything he has been involved in. As in The Thin Blue Line, the audience finds itself not just following but actively analysing the actions and events, the decisions made or not made, as the 1916 born McNamara presents to us his thinking process. How often do we witness something like this in the media today?

He also directs commercials: for some the fact that Morris has made campaigns for brands such as Adidas, Cisco, Nike, and The Quaker Oats Company could be ‘surprising’ I guess. Nevertheless, whether looking at this or the time he got Donald Trump talking about Citizen Kane in the opening short of the 75th Academy Awards, no one could say that he’s a ‘sell out’, or that a level of integrity is not be present in his non-fiction. We are left with one question: what would be the life lessons of Errol Morris? He has researched a serial killer, a town amputating limbs for insurance money, the physics of Stephen Hawking, an execution technician, prisoner abuse…The list keeps growing and his films remain captivating. No wonder. After all he is the man who made Werner Herzog eat his shoe.

Atso Pärnänen