About the Film
Is it possible for a photograph to change the world?
Documentary filmmaker Errol Morris (The Fog of War, The Thin Blue Line) examines the context of the twelve notorious photographs from Baghdad’s Abu Ghraib. Why were they taken? What was happening outside the frame? Morris talks directly to the soldiers who took the photographs and who were in the photographs. Who are these people? What were they thinking? And the underlying question: how could American values become so compromised that Abu Ghraib—and the subsequent coverup—could happen?
View Film Site | ErrolMorris.com
In the News
In final news conference, Bush acknowledges a few regrets
San Francisco Chronicle | Jan 13, 2009
Bush defends tumultuous terms in last news conference
The Boston Globe | Jan 13, 2009
Bush’s Short View of History
Truthdig | Jan 12, 2009
Reactions
“An impressive and highly relevant piece of filmmaking, Standard Operating Procedure shines light on a subject that may be distinctly ugly but which also needs to be both examined and understood.”
Tom Dawson | Channel 4 (UK)
“Morris explores the reality of Abu Ghraib with a visceral intensity that straightforward reportage could never allow.”
Jeff Shannon | Seattle Times
“A striking visual exercise—a meditation on the hold that seeing has over us as human beings.”
Mark Feeney | Boston Globe
Learn More About the Issue
The Photographs that Shamed America
In Standard Operating Procedure, filmmaker Errol Morris examines the context of the notorious Abu Ghraib photographs—how these photos exposed alleged U.S. violations of the Geneva Conventions in the interrogation of prisoners in Iraq. They also served to scapegoat “a few bad apples” and cover up a broader shift in government policies after 9/11. Four years later, the story of Abu Ghraib is still shrouded in shame and moral ambiguity.
Our campaign provides a deeper understanding of the Abu Ghraib photographs and the use of this medium as a tool to document human rights violations and instigate a national dialogue on a range of post 9/11 related topics. Other initiatives shed light on the effects of Abu Ghraib on US domestic policies and international relations.
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