The Unknown Known: Oscar Winner Errol Morris Interviews Donald Rumsfeld

A documentary film based on interviewing one person about things we thought we know; it turns out we did not. Interviews are a formalised human interaction. Errol Morris uses effective methods when directing his films to communicate mass information in discovering the truth (Wells and Detweiler, 2018). He has interviewed well-known politicians such as Donald Rumsfeld in the documentary film: The Unknown Known.

Although Morris invites and provides a platform for politicians and high-ranking officials, he is also very gentle with them to ensure the interviewee is comfortable. Morris tries to access something beyond the traditional media interviews and enforce human interactions by allowing interviewees to talk about themselves on their own terms (Lewis, 2015). We did not get new information in the film; however, we did have a sense of the interviewee’s psyche from Morris’ questions. “How did you propose? He asked. Donald answered “imperfectly”. It is a revealing, and strange answer suggesting an extremely calculated personality.

Additionally, Morris uses his techniques and asks open questions to trigger specific information and get a sense of the interviewee’s thoughts. “Tell me what you think the Iraq war was?” he asked. Donald replies “It is about political manoeuvring” that shows a neglect for human lives and shows the interviewee's personality without Morris asking him a direct question.

In the video below, Morris said, he does not see Donald Rumsfeld’s smile as insincere "I found it horrifying …. because it was insincere it was like a tell in poker game" (The Guardian, 2014).

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dNY1Ew-bbbc

 “One of the strangest interviews I've ever done”

Morris invented the Interrotron method, illustration 1, in which the interviewee speaks directly into the lens of the camera as well as the interviewee interacting eye to eye with the interviewer (Dewhurst, 2012). This method has successfully been used for many documentary films.

illustration 1

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Bibliography

Dewhurst, B. (2012). Interrotron: an Interviewing Tool Essential to the Documentaries of Oscar Winner Errol Morris. [online] No Film School. Available at: https://nofilmschool.com/2012/09/interrotron-errol-morris-documentary [Accessed 17 Nov. 2021].

Grindon, L. (2007). Q & A: Poetics of the Documentary Film Interview. The Velvet Light Trap, 60(1), pp.4–12.

Lewis, R. (2015). Decide for Yourself. [online] Boston Review. Available at: https://bostonreview.net/books-ideas/randolph-lewis-errol-morris-documentary-truth [Accessed 17 Nov. 2021].

The Guardian (2014). Errol Morris on Donald Rumsfeld: “One of the strangest interviews I’ve ever done.” YouTube. Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dNY1Ew-bbbc [Accessed 11 Nov. 2021].

The unknown known. (2013). United States: Radius-TWC.

Wells, J. and Detweiler, C. (2018). How to film truth : the story of documentary film as a spiritual journey. Eugene, Oregon: Cascade Books.