Standard Operating Procedure

Effective demonstration of the scapegoating that followed the Abu Ghraib scandal, as well as of the generalised craziness in relation to torture that has reigned in the wake of the September 11 attacks. Some cinematic techniques are used very well for expository and explanatory purposes.

I think a lot of people miss the point: Morris simply wants to know how an individual justifies their horrendous actions, and highlights their justifications with actual images, letting these documents speak for or against the soldiers. That said, whatever optimism I had left in life is probably gone now.

I am fairly surprised with people's reviews stating that SOP was "tedious" or "boring", seeing as how the subject matter was so disturbing and important. The interviews are amazing and truly show the absolute ignorance some of these soldiers possess and the most frightening aspect is the knowledge that this is exactly how the military wants them to be. An excellent documentary that shows how far a human will go if given the chance.

It's tough. Sure, these people shouldn't have been scapegoated, but man did I hate them all by the end of this documentary. Bunch of dummies. The documentary itself was competent and stylish, but didn't aspire to a whole lot. We started the film with Donald Rumsfeld. I assumed we would get back to him eventually. Morris was content to stay with the grunts on the ground, which left me a little unsatisfied.

Morris' hypothesis, that the presence of cameras changes everything and that there exists a greater context that a camera is unable to capture, is one of his old standbys, and he's done it to greater effect elsewhere.

Good presentation and it is interesting to hear the grunts explain themselves, but the film aspires to nothing more than that. I wanted psychiatric profiles, more challenging questions, and a better sense of people in charge who allowed this to happen. A huge missed opportunity.

It is indeed too long, but very interesting.

Important subject, less important take on it. Technically impressive, but just too repetitive and overlong.

Long and the pace is not well executed. The narrative encompasses acts which lack a "time-stamp" - i.e. everything is messy, unorganized. The film does not delve upon the crooked grins of the interviewees while they tell what they did, their feelings of unjust punishment etc. The court proceedings are left out. Psychiatric experts would be very explanatory, but again, there are none. Music by Danny Elfman, instead of Philip Glass but generally OK. Lots of CGI, the rest is same old Morris.

Standard Operating Procedure manages to capture the frustration of how the grunts take the brunt of any discipline. One interviewee says it best "damned if you do, damned if you don't" as they'd be in jail for disobeying orders and they're now in jail for obeying them. However, at the same time, I couldn't help but feel disgusted as the soldiers passed the buck back up the ladder.

A disturbing documentary that suffers from length and the fact it doesn't attempt to provide a bigger picture of the scandal it covers. 20 minutes in everyone will have already judged the interviewees on their willingness to blindly follow inhuman orders that no person with a conscience could obey. The next 90 minutes just reinforces that opinion without examining their actions or who was ultimately responsible.

very good and very stylish recreation of the events that lead to the scandal, exploring the role of institutionalisation of command when it comes to torture. those who were disappointed by the focus on lower ranks were clearly looking for a different documentary. what stood out was the bizarre and horrific use and abuse of gender roles, and the obvious question that appears to me is how much to trust the self-apologetics of the interviewees given the bulk of photographic evidence. i don't know.

This is a film about a bunch of fine individuals from the Team America: World Police. It is way too long, and repeats same things all over. It takes only 10 minutes to confirm what most sane people already know - military is rotten and full of retards, and it doesn't get much further beyond that. In those two hours, the approach could have been much wider. Music by Elfman is nice, but doesn't fit the film.

#860 - 10 Ekim 08, filmekimi2008, emek sinemasi, 13:30 & http://sineofrenik.blogspot.com/2008/10/filmekimi-2008-standard-operating.html

"Morris's signature touches can occasionally seem studied to the point of annoyance but the cumulative power of his busy, artsy style generally enhances the horror, making it no more palatable than necessary." - Bill Weber

Standard Operating Procedure is a documentary debacle.

While Morris isn't interested in exonerating anyone, he clearly sympathizes to some degree with the MPs and deplores the military's fall-guy strategy, which punished these seven soldiers as exemplary "bad apples" while leaving all higher-ranking officers untouched.

Decent, but struck with the misfortune of being released around the same time as Alex Gibney's superior TAXI TO THE DARK SIDE.

A uniquely relevant, incisive and valuable documentary. Honestly, Morris' exposition considerably adjusted my thoughts on the subject of Abu Ghraib and helped me understand the bigger picture. His documentaries broaden your mind.

Yeeeesh.

Morris softballs his subjects, ignores the bigger picture and makes torture accounts boring. Lynndie England's still the ugliest person alive.

I see what Morris is trying to achieve here, but this didn't have to be two hours long to get the message across. Is discontinuous most of the time, and gets tedious after a while. Props for attempting to highlight an important issue though.

This is why horror movies do nothing for me. Extremely disturbing and chilling with all the wonderful Morris touches that go along with it. I would have liked to see more about the objective nature of photography and how easily context can be manipulated, along with how the media used that to their advantage, but that is a whole 'nother documentary in itself.

Exhaustive and exhausting. Morris corrals interviews with most of the principals, and their collective testimony seems painfully honest if sometimes buffered down in the name of understandable self-preservation. Morris inserts a handful of subdued and yet entirely unnecessary recreations. The infamous photographs that brought the scandalous behavior to light in the first place get a fresh exhibition here, and they still have the capacity to shock all on their own.