Errol Morris, who won the Academy Award for Best Documentary in 2003 for his story on Robert McNamara, turns his cameras this time on another Defense Secretary, Donald Rumsfeld. Morris gently tries to hold him accountable for the disasters of the Iraq War; Rummy’s responses were a series of dodges, word games, and oblique remarks.
“Was invading Iraq a mistake?” Morris asked directly. “Time will tell,” replied Rumsfeld. Morris did not press the issue, and went on to other topics. Rumsfeld was Secretary of Defense twice, once for President Gerald Ford (1975-1977) and once for President George W. Bush (2001-2006). He also served Presidents Richard Nixon and Ronald Reagan in various capacities, and was a member of the U. S. House of Representatives, 1963-1969, from Illinois.
One of Rumsfeld’s memos from the 2000’s quoted by Errol Morris stated that there are “unknown knowns, that is to say, things that you think you know that it turns out that you did not.” Don’t even ask about known knowns, known unknowns, and unknown unknowns. “The Unknown Known” leaves us knowing less than when we started.
The Unknown Known (2013)
cinema
My Review
Errol Morris, who won the Academy Award for Best Documentary in 2003 for his story on Robert McNamara, turns his cameras this time on another Defense Secretary, Donald Rumsfeld. Morris gently tries to hold him accountable for the disasters of the Iraq War; Rummy’s responses were a series of dodges, word games, and oblique remarks.
“Was invading Iraq a mistake?” Morris asked directly. “Time will tell,” replied Rumsfeld. Morris did not press the issue, and went on to other topics. Rumsfeld was Secretary of Defense twice, once for President Gerald Ford (1975-1977) and once for President George W. Bush (2001-2006). He also served Presidents Richard Nixon and Ronald Reagan in various capacities, and was a member of the U. S. House of Representatives, 1963-1969, from Illinois.
One of Rumsfeld’s memos from the 2000’s quoted by Errol Morris stated that there are “unknown knowns, that is to say, things that you think you know that it turns out that you did not.” Don’t even ask about known knowns, known unknowns, and unknown unknowns. “The Unknown Known” leaves us knowing less than when we started.