January 31, 2007


Errol Morris on Abu Ghraib

Morris introduced us to his latest project about Abu Ghraib, and the iconic images created from the prisoner torture. It’s his hypothesis that it’s a handful of those photos that we’ll remember a hundred years from now about the Iraq War. He explained that this project began with the mystery of two photos by Roger Fenton described by Susan Sontag in her book, Regarding the Pain of Others. During the Crimean War, Fenton took photos of the Valley of the Shadow of Death. Two are of the same road, one with cannonballs littering the road, one with the cannonballs in the ravine. The Mystery being which photo was taken first, which was staged?

Morris’s presentation mostly talked about that idea of the iconic photograph. What can we learn from them? To what extent are they posed or performance? An interesting aspect about the Abu Ghraib project is that Morris has the opportunity to interview the photographers. We have an opportunity for more context than just the images themselves.

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posted by Deron Bauman in movies 

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2 Responses to “Errol Morris on Abu Ghraib”

  1. Cindy Scroggins on January 31st, 2007 at 4:02 pm

    Errol Morris has long been my favorite documentary filmmaker. I will eagerly watch/own anything the man sees fit to make.

  2. Deron Bauman on January 31st, 2007 at 5:11 pm

    I’m with you, Cindy.