SFF REVIEW: The Unknown Known (2014, Dir. Errol Morris)

In 2003, documentary film maker Errol Morris interviewed one of the United States' longest serving Secretaries of Defense, Robert S. McNamara. The resulting film, The Fog of War, won Morris the Academy Award for best documentary feature. It is an exceptionally powerful record of one of the world's most central figures admitting revelatory mistakes with breathtaking, often gut-wrenching honesty. Morris revealed a man tortured by his actions, who had presided over death on a global scale, coming to terms with his decisions on camera. It is a remarkable piece of documentary film making.

Now, ten years later, Morris has lined up another U.S. Secretary of Defense, another interview, another film. But this is another age and his subject, Donald Rumsfeld, isn't yet ready for anything even faintly suggestive of self-examination.

The Unknown Known begins with Rumsfeld re-reading one of his innumerable memos, this specific one is from February 4th, 2004: "Subject: What You Know - There are known knowns. There are known unknowns. There are unknown unknowns, but there are also unknown knowns, that is to say things that you think you know that it turns out you did not.” It's a jumble of words so obtuse that even their originator struggles with its meaning. Words are Rumsfeld's game. He uses them not for information but for obfuscation. He blatantly redefines them. He uses them as blankets to shroud the truth. He hides the absence of weapons of mass destruction under them.

Morris sets himself a difficult task: trying to pull some substantial comment from Rumsfeld. He strips from his film anything that may get in the way. He opts for a simple backdrop so as not to draw from his subject. His camerawork is direct, thanks to his custom built Interrotron. He uses archive footage and some microfiche inspired titles, but sparingly. Ultimately his unblinking focus is Rumsfeld, his face and his words, be they written or spoken.

With all background noise removed, Rumsfeld is combative, slippery, uncomfortable with Morris' ability to recall and call attention to his propensity for self-contradiction. Morris presses Rumsfeld to explain his memos, he pulls up contradictory statements, he tries to lock Rumsfeld down. Unfortunately he doesn't succeed; Rumsfeld's doublespeak wins out. Just like his performances in his regular briefings during the Iraq conflict, he is a dodger of the most artful variety. Therein lies the eventual point of Morris' film. The answer is that you're not going to get an answer.

The answer is not satisfactory and satisfactory at the same time.

In The Fog of War, McNamara offered the world eleven lessons from his life. In The Unknown Known, Rumsfeld offers just one: if you lie often enough, for long enough and in grand enough circles, people will forget what they asked you in the first place. It's a chilling lesson served with a self-satisfied smile. I just hope that it's a lesson that world leaders refuse to study.

★★★☆

Trailer:

The Unknown Known screened at Sydney Film Festival 2014.

This post contributes to Director Focus: Errol Morris.