Standard Operating Procedure

Standard Operating Procedure (2008)

  • 79% of critics liked it
    (97 reviews)

  • 78% of users liked it
    (2,473 ratings)

Filmmaker Errol Morris (Gates of Heaven, The Thin Blue Line) takes an unflinching look at the Abu Ghraib prison scandal while meditating on the frightening side effects of the War on Terror in a thought-provoking documentary from Participant Productions (An Inconvenient Truth). ~ Jason Buchanan,… More

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R, 1 hr. 56 min.
Directed By
Errol Morris
Genres
Documentary, Special Interest
In Theaters
Apr 25, 2008 Limited
On DVD
Oct 14, 2008
Sony Pictures Classics

Critic Reviews

  • Jonathan F. Richards, Film.com

    Morris offers valuable new perspectives on Abu Ghraib, but the paying customers may not care to go there again.

  • Roger Moore, Orlando Sentinel

    Standard Operating Procedure feels like a historical work in progress, brilliant, thought-provoking but incomplete.

  • Tom Long, Detroit News

    Truth is a matter of perspective in director Errol Morris' Standard Operating Procedure, a piercing look at the abuses at Abu Ghraib prison and the aftermath of their discovery.

  • Amy Biancolli, Houston Chronicle

    The result is a devastating film, and an important one.

  • , Minneapolis Star Tribune

    Probes deeper than any other Iraq war documentary.

Read all 21 critic reviews

Critic ratings and reviews powered by RottenTomatoes.com

Fresh (60% or more critics rated the movie positively)

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Featured Audience Ratings

  • Curtis L


    Errol Morris tries a different style in this one. The interviewees don't look straight into the camera (his signature shot), but it's also not a film about backwoods hillbillies or pet cemeteries. The subject matter is intriguing, and it's cool to get testimonies of… More

  • Walter M


    "The fact that a person acted to pursuant to order of his government or of a superior does not relieve him from responsibility under international law, provided a moral choice was in fact possible to him." - Nuremburg Principle IV "Military intelligence is a… More

  • Alec B


    Not easy to watch, but it is still one of the most important films of 2008. The film is tremendously engaging and educational. We only got a fraction of the story in the media, and Errol Morris' choice of just letting the soldiers that he could get to interview simply speak about… More

  • William G


    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.

  • Tobias X


    Errol Morris is officially the Kubrick of the documentary. 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,… More

Read all 8 featured audience ratings

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