Standard Operating Procedure (2008)

Directed by the widely renowned Errol Morris (The Fog of War, The Thin Blue Line, and Gates of Heaven), Standard Operating Procedure addresses what many consider to be a shameful representation of human nature at its worst. Regardless of your feelings on torture, or the necessity of inhumane acts to further the greater good, Standard Operating Procedure stands as a fascinating character study on the loss of individual morality within a group setting and the potential for the darker side of the human psyche to emerge when rules are bent beyond recognition.

Anyone with a television or access to a newspaper will likely remember the embarrassment felt by the United States Military over countless pictures released to global media outlets depicting acts of humiliation at the Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq. The resulting backlash led to a flurry of convictions meant to appease domestic and international critics, as well as a personal apology from President George W. Bush. Standard Operating Procedure includes interviews with the primary players in the scandal (those who have subsequently been released from prison or were never charged in the first place) and individuals with an intimate knowledge of the resulting investigation that led to the arrest and imprisonment of those responsible for the offenses documented in the notorious photographs. Interspersed with the interview footage, we are presented with reenacted dramatic segments, graphic photographs of the atrocities committed, and some brief video footage taken within the prison.

If ever there was a documentary that's not for the faint of heart, this is it. Morris is well known as a documentarian that doesn't shy away from less than savory subject matter and this film is no exception. I remember seeing around a dozen photographs during the media blitz several years back but never had any idea there were over 3,000 pictures documenting the abuse and humiliation suffered by the inmates of the Iraqi prison. During the course of the film, you'll witness the worst of the depictions, which include the notorious naked pyramid, a corpse, and many compromising sexual scenarios meant to break the will of the prisoners. It's not my place to delve into a discussion regarding the necessity of what took place, but I can at least say I was sickened by what I viewed throughout the course of the film, and almost wish I hadn't watched it at all.MS-DOCU MS-WWI

The saving grace in the entire production, is the steady hand of Morris, who demonstrates precisely why he's viewed by many as an equal to the great Werner Herzog. Rather than offer a scathing critical account of the activities the soldiers engaged in, Morris expects the viewer to question why those actions occurred in the first place. Was it really the misplaced aggression of several rogue guards with their morality switch turned off, or could it have been the result of a lack of procedural rules in the gathering of information, as decreed by individuals higher up the military ladder? By the end, we know the opinion of the interviewees, but we're still left to draw our own conclusions regarding who was responsible for what took place. The other intriguing question asks whether any of this would be an issue if nobody had taken pictures. Why would the guards have taken the pictures if they believed they were doing something wrong (and punishable)? We all know the line "a picture's worth a thousand words", and this scandal may go down in history as the greatest example we can offer.

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