A Life in Movies: Errol Morris | Newsweek Entertainment: Movies

LAW
The Truth About Torture
Stuart Taylor Jr. 7/12/2008 12:00:00 AM
Dark deeds have been conducted in the name of the United States government in recent years: the gruesome, late-night circus at Abu Ghraib, the beating to death of captives in Afghanistan, and the officially sanctioned waterboarding and brutalization of high-value Qaeda prisoners. Now demands are growing for senior administration officials to be held accountable and punished. Congressional liberals, human-rights groups and other activists are urging a criminal investigation into high-level "war crimes," including the Bush administration's approval of interrogation methods considered by many to be torture.
ENTERTAINMENT
Spring Movie Guide
4/4/2008 12:00:00 AM
Some of the best films to come along in the last few years have been documentaries. This spring's crop, which features films from Martin Scorsese, Errol Morris and Morgan Spurlock, features music (the Stones), investigative journalism (Abu Ghraib) and humor (about Osama bin Laden). Documentaries often have more drama than a fiction film and more laughs than your average wacky comedy, so don't let the word "documentary" scare you away.
‘24’ Versus the Real World
Evan Thomas 9/20/2006 12:00:00 AM
DOCUMENTARIES
Snapshots of Horror
Christopher Dickey
"When you see a picture, you don't see outside the frame," one of the American soldiers convicted for dereliction of duty at Abu Ghraib Prison told filmmaker Errol Morris. Maybe people think they know all there is to know, or all they want to know, about the hundreds of snapshots taken in that distilled hell created by American occupation forces in Iraq in 2003. But the truly savage beatings that did take place at Abu Ghraib—at least one of which ended an Iraqi's life—weren't caught on camera. And if a young woman soldier who hoped someday to be a forensic photographer had not taken detailed shots of the corpse left behind by interrogators in one of the prison's fetid showers, we probably would not have known about that case, either.
CULTURE
Here’s Looking At You, Kids
Jennie Yabroff
When filmmaker Caroline Suh decided to make a documentary about the student-council election at New York's Stuyvesant High School, she was concerned about how the kids would react to the camera. It's an understandable fear: for those of us of Suh's age—she's 37—and older, the introduction of a movie camera has traditionally turned people into either hams mouthing 'Hi, Mom!' or zombies frozen stiff with anxiety. "When I was in high school, if someone was making a film, it would have been this glamorous, exciting thing," Suh says. Turns out she needn't have worried. During the year Suh spent making "Frontrunners," two other journalists were also documenting Stuyvesant's kids: one for a book about the school's academic pressures, another for a magazine cover story on the sexual mores of contemporary youth. And the kids, Suh says, were unfazed by the scrutiny. "They've all seen reality TV. They make movies with their cell phones," she says. "Being under the microscope is just part of their lives."
CLOSURE
The Lady With the Leash
Thijs Niemantsverdriet
All too often, major news stories captivate us for a moment, and then vanish, unresolved. We bring you the next chapter.Starting PointArmy Pfc. Lynndie England becomes the face of the Abu Ghraib Prison scandal when smiling photos of her with humiliated detainees surface.