|
Frequently Bought Together
What Other Items Do Customers Buy After Viewing This Item?
Product details
|
Reviews
Amazon.co.uk Review
It's impossible to talk about Standard Operating Procedure without referencing Taxi to the Dark Side. Fortunately, both documentaries are vital to any discussion about US military interrogation techniques. While Alex Gibney's Oscar winner uses the death of an Iraqi taxi driver as a framing device, director Errol Morris and writer Philip Gourevitch (We Wish to Inform You that Tomorrow We Will Be Killed with Our Families) examine the issue through visual evidence (they also collaborated on a book of the same name). While Gibney concentrates on Bhagram, Morris focuses on Abu Ghraib, but his self-described "non-fiction horror film," which features a dramatic Danny Elfman score and slow motion re-enactments, runs along two tracks. First, he aims to find out what happened at the infamous institution. Along with the photographs and video footage, he speaks to the guards and the brigadier general who oversaw their operations, including former army specialist Lynndie England, who has all the charm of Aileen Wuornos (so memorably immortalized in Monster). As in his Thin Blue Line, accounts contradict other accounts. In Morris's world, absolute truth doesn't exist-- it's up to viewers to decide which subjects seem most reliable. This leads to his parallel goal, which is to question the reliability of imagery. Photography was prohibited at Abu Ghraib, so he identifies the responsible parties, the reasoning behind their rule-breaking, and the stories behind the most incendiary pictures. If less emotionally engaging than Gibney's feature, Standard Operating Procedure is just as essential--and every bit as disturbing. --Kathleen C. Fennessy
Tags Customers Associate with This Product(What's this?)Click on a tag to find related items, discussions, and people.
|
Customer Reviews
|
Share your thoughts with other customers:
|
||||||||||||||||||||||
|
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
A story well worth telling,
By
This review is from: Standard Operating Procedure [DVD] [2009] (DVD)
Having watched this DVD tonight I feel compelled to reply to the previous 2 comments. They nearly put me off watching it, however I'm glad I watched it for the following reasons
1. It was a useful reminder of the horrors of Abu Graib and a good summation of that sick little episode. 2. It is a damn good story though wouldn't it be better if it were fiction. 3. It will stand as a historical record (open to interpretation of course) 4. It is undeniably facinating to see and hear the perpetrators discuss the events. 5. The conclusions that the little guys were prosecuted while the really serious crimes, murder, torture etc were never dealt with. What I didn't like about the film were stylistic elements- use of re-enactments and music trying to make it more "cinematic". It didn't need any of this and in fact it detracted from the gripping narrative and the talking heads and the pictures. No additional elements were required. Looking into the eyes of the ex military personell involved was drama enough. So not perfect but a valuable document.
5.0 out of 5 stars
Revealing documentary,
By
This review is from: Standard Operating Procedure [Blu-ray] [2009][Region Free] (Blu-ray)
I found it a very good documentary, giving insight into the American military culture. Astonishing that the people who gave the orders were never charged or convicted. Only the men and women of the lowest ranks got made scapegoats.
There are some funny moments as well, the "softening up" of prisoners by playing continues loud music. They (prisoners)were able to handle basically all kinds of music except Country & Western music. Also interviews with "consultants" hired to do interogations. Brave of the people who helped making this documentary and scary to see how the Americans operate with their commanding officers & Bush administrators washing their hands in innocence.
4 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
shocking for unexpected reasons,
By
This review is from: Standard Operating Procedure [DVD] [2009] (DVD)
i have been a avid documentary viewer for over 25 years , watching material from around the world and including some quite alarming subjects..........this doc i found to quite sickening......i will attempt to explain why.
the abuses in themselves are widely used , sleep deprivation , stress positions , mental and physical torture etc. most countries have ''people'' trained these techniques ( including i should mention british special forces , it is part of their training ) the first thing that stuck me was the extreme young age and high rank of the offending parties , these ''kids'' were not the ''cream'' of american youth and I find it alarming that the usa cannot do better , in fact there was a recent scandal on the amount of gangmembers and criminals in their armed forces. constant was their self pity , moaning about getting mortared and shot at ! are the not supposed to be soldiers ? these so called ''soldiers ...MP'S in fact, do not mention war treaties ,the geneva convention , prisoner rights or even there own rights as combatants ! they do not seem to know they have rights ! they failed totally in making me feel sorry for them.......ok they were dumb and ''were only following orders'' ( where have we heard that before ? ) shocking again was the stupidity of higher ranks on allowing cameras and idiot soldiers to be involved in their activities ....did they really think these kids could keep secrets ? shocking was the lack of morals in these kids......they claimed to know these activities were wrong , well not enough to do anything about it ! it was also a surprise to find that the young man who ''did the right thing'' and reported the photos morris demoted to the deleted scenes of the dvd....why ? morris also asks in the directors commentary ''what would we do in the same situation'' ? well errol this question backfires because i know what i'd to and its not be party to it ! the nazi's could not run extermination camps without the help of private soldiers , they also needed people who would prepare the camp for the red cross inspections ( just like these american kids did ) shocking was the poor excuse that they ''had to follow orders'' yes that is true when it is a LEGAL ORDER ! i would like to stress that there is no record of a SS soldier being shot for refusing camp duties during WW2 , they requested transfer to the front and got it ! they could easily tell there commanding officer that ''they suspect illegal activities are going on'' and demand that their complaint be recorded in WRITING. ultimately they could go to the press ! extreme perhaps for a serving soldier but again it is down to their conscience , knowing right from wrong. the united states did the right thing during world war one and two.......this documentary shows how far downhill the armed forces of the USA has sunk .....it makes me sad to see it. please america , stop invading countries , clean up your army , allow me to repect you again. the ''Errol Morris First Person'' for me is his best work , this documentary lacks neutrality , this is why i have given it 3 stars , well produced , scenes well edited and pacy , i did not find the fancy effects and reconstuctions too bad as another reviewer had warned. one thing is for sure , i couldn't get the shocks from this doc out of my head for a while ....so its recommended viewing in my book.
Share your thoughts with other customers: Create your own review
Would you like to see more reviews about this item?
|
Most Recent Customer Reviews |
Customer Discussions
|
This product's forum
Search Customer Discussions
|
Related forums
|
Listmania!
Look for similar items by category
Look for similar items by subject
Feedback
- Would you like to update product info or give feedback on images?
|
