It is dismaying to watch
56 minutes ago
Friday, July 10, 2009
Has Anyone Seen "Standard Operating Procedure"?
Has Anyone Seen "Standard Operating Procedure"? I just read THE BALLAD OF ABU GHRAIB, by Errol Morris and Philip Gourevitch, based on the interviews that comprise the film. It's exhaustively researched, compellingly told, and historically important. Still, I am stunned that the Iraqis themselves have almost no voice in the story at all, with the exception of Shit Boy and a couple other cartoon characters; they, the objects of our torture, become a great silent mirror against which we play ourselves to death.
This reminds me of the move in the recent film, "Waltz with Bashir," when the narrator/director Ari Folman is set to talk to someone "who was there" at the massacre of Sabra and Shatila decides to talk to an Israeli journalist, and not a single Palestinian or Lebanese. It's as if only "we" can confirm the truth. And while I understand and admire the existence of such figures as investigative journalists and dissenting intellectuals "from within," I find it beyond depressing that only "we" can confirm the truth.
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2 comments:
Julia,
that's disappointing to hear, because Morris' work in the past has been interesting (cf. "The Fog of War," his portrait of Robert McNamara). But the book's limitations are clearly the film's then, insofar as they both focus on the MPs as characters, without representing either Iraqis or, perhaps, the wider structure of abuse. Still, something has to be said for trying to allow these demonized figures, these soldiers, a chance to try to make sense of their stories, even if they seem to be "whiny" or lacking in self-distance. These soldiers were in part what Dylan calls "a pawn in their game," both perpetrators and victims of wider schemes.
Thanks, JS! Darby comes off as an interesting character--and, differently--in each thing I've read about him; in an interview with GQ (where I heard the stories of exile), in TORTURE AND TRUTH by Mark Danner, and in the BALLAD OF ABU GHRAIB. Interesting because he's not a saint (and his story changes), and therefore important as a whistleblower. We need fewer martyrs and more regular people. Strange that the film excises him, even though they clearly must have interviewed him (or at least tried).
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