With screenings at Venice, Telluride and TIFF last year, it speaks to the reputation of Errol Morris that three of the major fall film festivals played host to his latest film, “The Unknown Known.” And it’s hard to argue why programmers were interested. Not only is it the new film from a master documentary filmmaker, it tackles one of the most divisive, polarizing and controversial figures in American politics over the last few decades: Donald Rumsfeld.
Once again taking out his Interrotron, the documentary finds Morris probing one of the most canny minds (for good or bad) of the military and government landscape, in what as the trailer suggests, is a fascinating and maddening portrait of a man who has wielded some of the greatest power and influence on the land. But, our man in Venice wasn’t particularly taken with the doc, summing it up thusly: “From a procedural perspective, the film is an insightful look into the life of a Secretary Of Defense, but as an exploration into how the war in Iraq was allowed to happen, it’s much, much less satisfying.”
Still, that Rumsfeld opened himself up to this kind of scrutiny is compelling in and of itself, and you can check out what he has say on April 2nd. Watch below.