Morris creates a dramatic re-enactment of a crime scene investigation of the murder of a police officer on road patrol. There were two people who were near the scene but they tell different stories and it is difficult to find out what really happened. The evidence gathered is circumstantial, and some of the police officers on the job are incapable of even remembering the number plate of a fleeing car.
Released: 1988, USA
Length: 103 min
Director: Errol Morris
Morris was the man who broke the Cinema Direct style and started to make documentaries that looked cinematic. He seems to be saying there is no reason why the truth should look shaky and badly composed.
While this is perhaps not his most popular film (the later works like this year’s Standard Operating Procedure seem to have chosen themes which gather a larger audience) it should still be noted that with this film Morris in essence established a new kind of nonfiction film making.
This film is really something else. It is innovative in almost every aspect and when seen at first it might not even seem to be a documentary. Yet it is in the sense that it tries to document reality.
