Introduction to standard process

In the film, director Morris interviewed six or seven people who had been arrested and asked them to describe the situation when taking pictures, so that the history hidden in the photos gradually surfaced. The photo is the core of the film, and its content is simply jaw-dropping: in one photo, a prisoner stands on a wooden box, covered with a camouflage net, and his outstretched arms are wrapped with wires. At that time, he was told that if he fell from the wooden box, he would be electrocuted by high voltage; In another photo, many prisoners are naked and piled together, while the American army behind them is very proud; In addition, there are fierce military dogs in the photo, drooling and yelling at naked prisoners ... even taking pictures is a means to humiliate prisoners and make them nervous breakdown. These photos make this documentary a "non-fiction horror film".

Real photos, interspersed with interview fragments of the parties, describe the cruel abuse of Iraqi prisoners by female prisoners, and reveal her unfortunate love life and the psychological factors of soldiers' abuse of prisoners.

Through interviews with soldiers, the film tries to tell us that the abuse of prisoners is not only the excessive behavior of some people with moral defects in the US military, but that soldiers use "standard procedures" when American intelligence personnel interrogate prisoners. This incident should arouse the reflection of American society: why do the values such as "freedom, democracy and human rights" that the United States has always advertised breed such a freak? ……

be in the background

Many people think that Standard Procedure won the Silver Bear Award from the jury of the 58th Berlin Film Festival because of the tradition of paying attention to politics in Berlin Film Festival. This discriminatory view is unfair to errol morris, who directed the film. As an American documentary tycoon and director, errol morris has proved his strength through a series of classic documentary works. His observation perspective, shooting skills and black humor are unique in the documentary industry.

1980, Morris filmed his first documentary, The Gate of Heaven. Known as "the cornerstone of a real film and the greatest documentary in history", this film is just a story about a mobile pet cemetery, but Morris quietly reflected the living conditions of Americans in the late 1970s by interviewing the operators, sponsors, neighbors and pet owners of the pet cemetery. After The Gate of Heaven shines brilliantly, Morris has shot many works, such as A Brief History of Time, Fast, Cheap and Out of Control, and Blue Thin Line, among which Blue Thin Line is very legendary. It is not only a masterpiece in "direct cinema", but also clears the name of a person who was unjustly imprisoned. 1976, a highway policeman was killed by a car in Dallas, Texas, USA, and the police had no clue to solve the case. /kloc-David, a 0/6-year-old juvenile recidivist, testified that Landau, a passerby with no criminal record, was a suspect, and Landau was found guilty and sentenced to life imprisonment. However, eleven years later, David was sentenced to death for other crimes. He confessed to the film crew that Landau was actually innocent. Morris used the semi-documentary method to trace the case, and the truth of the incident was successfully discovered. The film was rated as the best documentary by the International Documentary Association and the best documentary by new york, the United States and the American National Critics Association.

A brief review of movies

In the spring of 2004, when people first saw the photos of the US military abusing prisoners in Abu Ghraib prison, the shock was like an earthquake. Four years later, "great things happen every day", and the original shock has begun to be forgotten by people. However, errol morris, who is not so much a master of documentary as a person who has a persistent pursuit of the truth of the incident, sent us a wave of aftershocks with standard procedures, which made people dizzy and heart tremble.

We think we have the whole truth! The photos can tell everything: the "devil" controls Abu Ghraib. Faced with such an "obvious" thing, when the whole world was criticizing and attacking the soldiers who abused prisoners, Morris quietly went around behind the "enemy" and interviewed the American officers and men involved. Because Morris, who deals with the camera all day, knows that what the camera records is not necessarily true, and there are often more valuable stories hidden behind the photos. Relying on his superb interview skills, we found that the soldiers outside the photos and videos of prisoner abuse did not seem to be demons, but another group of victims, who were scapegoats for the huge military machine and cruel interrogation process in the United States. In this regard, many "chivalrous men" criticized Morris for his weak attitude, unclear position and excessive sympathy, but it was precisely in this way that Morris turned his criticism from "abusing prisoners and soldiers" to American democracy, military behavior and high-level officials. Under the "standard process", people are just tools for execution.

In this film, Morris once again used the technology he developed when shooting Fog of War. This technology helps respondents to stare directly at the camera lens. Through the film, they can feel that they are talking to you, not the interviewer behind the camera. Under this feeling, we may still have doubts, but obviously anger is returning to rationality.

If you choose to enlarge the scene of violence and reproduce the scene of prisoner abuse, there will definitely be more gimmicks to sell. However, Morris continued his concern for people, truth and reality. This calm heart is really amazing!