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Plot:
"Standard Operating Procedure" provides an examination of the unintended consequences of the Iraqi war with a focus on events at Abu Ghraib prison which began to appear in global media in 2004. The pr...( read more 
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Recent Reviews
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MCT:August 20, 2008Errol Morris is the Stanley Kubrick of the documentary ---Period. The "director-detective's" latest visual assault is a kinetic meditation on the arcane nature of images in the digital age. Through his trademark craft ---combinations of dazzling cinematic reenactments, first-person confessionals, haunting interludes of archival footage, and atypical theatrical scoring (Danny Elfman replacing Philip Glass here)---, Morris creates an expressionistic collage out of the media-circus that surrounded the Abu Ghraib scandal. "Standard Operating Procedure" provides a buffet of food-for-thought through its many informative angles, but mostly through its compelling interviews with Lynndie England, Megan Ambuhl and Sabrina Harman (and countless others) about how those infamous photographs came to be and how they affected their lives. Morris' dynamic observations become frightening dissections of how those unfortunate grunts (some mean-spirited, some emotionally weak, and some just flat-out dumb-ass ignorant kids) sadly became scapegoats for military higher-ups who encouraged and gave the orders for the despicable acts. Several elements made up the way those still photos were perceived by the media; their contents (obviously), the way they were arranged, and how some of the frames were actually manipulated digitally. Errol Morris inventively illustrates how a lot more than meets the eye went down that month in 2003. The most shocking and eye-opening part of this whole film is this sequence that highlights which of the photographed behavior was considered "legal" or "illegal" by the CIA. It really solidified my understanding of how potentially subjective all images really are. "Standard Operating Procedure" does not ask you to forgive these individuals but it (along with Sabrina Harman's voiced-over renditions of letters she wrote home) does put a depressingly human face on the whole Abu Ghraib mess. This is already one of the best documentaries I have seen in 2008 and it's Errol Morris' best since "The Fog of War"(2003)
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MCT:July 7, 2008
Morris uses surprisingly candid interviews to construct an essay on the painfully abstract nature of truth and intentions, the best and worst of which came to light in Abu Ghraib.
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MCT:June 9, 2008
Just when I had decided not to see any more Iraq docs Errol Morris goes and makes one. Morris is a master interviewer and is great at incorperating beautifully shot film images into his docs. If you want to know what went on at Abu Ghraib you should see this movie.
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MCT:May 31, 2008I don't know how he does it, but Morris draws some unbelievably candid interviews out of people. His dedication to the material is evident, and every frame bears his stylistic fingerprints. As for the re-enactment footage, while it has worked for him in the past, here it comes off as cinematically indulgent, which is inappropriate. These concepts have been explored before, but Morris is able to expand upon the thought processes of the characters.
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