Former United States Secretary of Defense, Donald Rumsfeld, discusses his career in Washington D.C. from his days as a congressman in the early 1960s to planning the invasion of Iraq in 2003.
And the bombastic trappings Morris favours – a Danny Elfman score, graphics illustrating the blizzard of Rumsfeld’s endless written memos – serve to emphasise rather than conceal the emptiness at the film’s heart.
Fascinating and frustrating.
Dedicated to Morris’ champion, Roger Ebert, who would be proud, this is a provocative, revelatory and disturbing film.
Not intended to simply ridicule Rumsfeld, but to underscore the complexity of one of the toughest jobs in the world.
Morris gives Rumsfeld plenty of rope to hang himself, but Rumsfeld is too canny to respond accordingly – although watching him espouse the brazen doublespeak that gives the film its title proves oddly fascinating.
Errol Morris interviews Donald Rumsfeld in a rambling documentary that fails to get under its subject’s skin, or obtain answers to difficult questions.
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