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Standard Operating Procedure
Sony Pictures Classics


8.7

based on 31 reviews
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based on 4 votes
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MPAA RATING: R for disturbing images and content involving torture and graphic nudity, and for language

Starring Christopher Bradley, Sarah Denning, Joshua Feinman, Jeff L. Green, Merry Grissom, Cyrus King, Daniel Novy, and Zhubin Rahbar

Is it possible for a photograph to change the world? Photographs taken by soldiers in Abu Ghraib prison changed the war in Iraq and changed America's image of itself. Yet, a central mystery remains. Did the notorious Abu Ghraib photographs constitute evidence of systematic abuse by the American military, or were they documenting the aberrant behavior of a few "bad apples"? We set out to examine the context of these photographs. Why were they taken? What was happening outside the frame? We talked directly to the soldiers who took the photographs and who were in the photographs. Who are these people? What were they thinking? Over two years of investigation, we amassed a million and a half words of interview transcript, thousands of pages of unredacted reports, and hundreds of photographs. The story of Abu Ghraib is still shrouded in moral ambiguity, but it is clear what happened there. The Abu Ghraib photographs serve as both an expose and a coverup. An expose, because the photographs offer us a glimpse of the horror of Abu Ghraib; and a coverup because they convinced journalists and readers they had seen everything, that there was no need to look further. In recent news reports, we have learned about the destruction of the Abu Zubaydah interrogation tapes. A coverup. It has been front page news. But the coverup at Abu Ghraib involved thousands of prisoners and hundreds of soldiers. We are still learning about the extent of it. Many journalists have asked about "the smoking gun" of Abu Ghraib. It is the wrong question. As Philip Gourevitch has commented, Abu Ghraib is the smoking gun. The underlying question that we still have not resolved, four years after the scandal: how could American values become so compromised that Abu Ghraib-and the subsequent coverup-could happen? (Sony Picture Classics)

GENRE(S):	Documentary
DIRECTED BY:	Errol Morris
RELEASE DATE:	Theatrical: April 25, 2008
RUNNING TIME:	118 minutes, Color
ORIGIN:	USA

All critic scores are converted to a 100-point scale. If a critic does not indicate a score, we assign a score based on the general impression given by the text of the review. Learn more...

100

The Onion (A.V. Club) Scott Tobias

With Standard Operating Procedure, the Iraq War finally has its Hearts And Minds.

100

Chicago Sun-Times Roger Ebert

Disturbing, analytical and morose. This is not a "political" film nor yet another screed about the Bush administration or the war in Iraq. It is driven simply, powerfully, by the desire to understand those photographs.

100

Seattle Post-Intelligencer Sean Axmaker

Morris challenges us to understand what the pictures show and what they don't show, and to see them in context. And he confronts us with the most important question surrounding them: Do they reveal a crime, an aberration in the system or standard operating procedure?

Baltimore Sun Michael Sragow

Standard Operating Procedure says that human nature abhors moral vacuums - but sometimes humans get sucked into them.

Entertainment Weekly Owen Gleiberman

Morris, using a welter of photographs (many of which we haven't seen), constructs a day-to-day sense of how Abu Ghraib descended into a medieval hell.

Christian Science Monitor Peter Rainer

At this late date there is little that is factually revelatory about his film, but as a human document of what people are capable of in wartime, it's indispensable.

Premiere Glenn Kenny

It's distinctly Morrisean, as it were, and seeing his style applied to subject matter with which one is already somewhat familiar makes one... well, question the style a bit.

TV Guide Ken Fox

No matter how slick and questionably appropriate Morris's style may be, the content is compelling.

USA Today Claudia Puig

It may be the most disturbing film you'll see in a long time.

Boston Globe Ty Burr

In Standard Operating Procedure, Errol Morris does something inconceivable and, at first glance, ill-advised. He gives the US soldiers of Abu Ghraib back their humanity.

Film Threat Don R. Lewis

Not only does Standard Operating Procedure look closely at visual evidence and it's true meaning, it also strives to question the validity of any given photo and, digging deeper still, the meta meaning of a photographic image.

Chicago Reader J.R. Jones

Morris argues that the photos also functioned as a cover-up: prosecution of the case centered on them, leaving free and clear many of those higher up the chain of command.

Los Angeles Times Kenneth Turan

Focus is really the heart of Morris' unsettling film, which strikes a remarkable balance between art and disturbance, between beauty and pain.

The Globe and Mail (Toronto) Rick Groen

The ethical fallout, the lingering fog of the so-called war on terror, is not that people don't know what's wrong or who's guilty - it's precisely that they do, and count it as the cost of doing business.

San Francisco Chronicle Mick LaSalle

Reveals one mystery, only to reveal another that it can't quite penetrate.

Portland Oregonian Marc Mohan

Just because others bear blame for what went on doesn't mean they bore none, and while the deal they got was raw, they never lacked the ability to say no.

Philadelphia Inquirer Carrie Rickey

In presenting their testimony to the jury of public opinion, Morris would seem to be building a case for absolving some of them of mistreatment charges and implicitly asking for an investigation of those who were not charged.

Miami Herald Rene Rodriguez

It also leaves you pondering what you would have done if you had been one of the soldiers stationed there, fighting in an increasingly loony and surreal war. There but for the grace of God, and all that.

The New York Times Manohla Dargis

A big, provocative and -- it goes without saying -- disturbing work, though what makes it most provocative is that its greatest ambitions are for its own visual style.

Salon.com Andrew O'Hehir

While this does not strike me as the most urgent element of Standard Operating Procedure, Morris makes a persuasive case that many of the Abu Ghraib photos don't show us what we think they do, and that some of the episodes depicted were staged specifically to be photographed (and might not otherwise have occurred).

Slate Dana Stevens

While Morris isn't interested in exonerating anyone, he clearly sympathizes to some degree with the MPs and deplores the military's fall-guy strategy, which punished these seven soldiers as exemplary "bad apples" while leaving all higher-ranking officers untouched.

Austin Chronicle Marjorie Baumgarten

These people manage to convince us that the events at Abu Ghraib were standard operating procedure and not aberrant activities. Therein lies the horror of the movie – and also its banality.

Chicago Tribune Michael Phillips

It's gut-grinding, to be sure. But a misjudged degree of cinematic dazzle obscures the outrages at the core of Standard Operating Procedure.

New York Daily News Joe Neumaier

Morris mixes piercing sit-downs with disturbing evidence. Though soldiers, including the notorious Lynndie England, express remorse, it's haunting to hear how several prisoners were "nice guys" or known to be innocent, yet no connection is made between those remarks and the images of torture.

New York Magazine David Edelstein

I’m not sure Morris clinches his case, but I’m not sure he wants to: His aim is to throw a monkey wrench into the cogs of our perception.

The Hollywood Reporter Kirk Honeycutt

Too narrowly focused.

Variety Todd McCarthy

Adds relatively little insight to the public understanding of wayward military behavior more incisively analyzed in "Taxi to the Dark Side."

New York Post Kyle Smith

By the end, we wind up pretty much where we were four years ago when the pictures first appeared in the papers: Inexperienced troops did disgusting things, but it's a mystery who else knew.

Time Richard Schickel

Morris's manner of relating this story is very often quite inappropriate to its substance. It is a sordid and appalling tale and what it demands is almost an anti-style -- rough, crude, grim, technically poor imagery unrelieved by sleek, slick fancy work. If you are going to rub our noses in this ugliness, you must not let up until, perhaps, we have learned our lesson.

Village Voice J. Hoberman

Since "The Thin Blue Line's" remarkable intervention, Morris's work has grown more public and more problematic--lofty yet snide, a form of know-it-all epistemological inquiry.

Washington Post Stephen Hunter

If the movie is meant to uncover any "big scandals," it's a disappointment. The investigator, in one surprising sequence, goes through a number of alleged "torture" photos and acknowledges that the vast majority of them represent "standard operating procedure." That is supposed to be the film's kicker: not what was illegal but how much was legal.

The average user rating for this movie is 8.7 (out of 10) based on 4 User Votes
Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.

Natalie J. gave it a10:
This film makes it apparent that not all movies are made to entertain. This mind-boggling and grotesque account of the military photographs at Abu Ghraib narrates, without bias, the frailty of ethics and morals in the midst of war. It presents the context of the photographs without demonizing the military involved, or even the inmates, and simply reveals the events that took place and how the pictures came to be. The distinct Morrisian style is eloquent and yet simple in showing the interviewees eyes as they make discoveries about the incident as they are being asked. This film is one of the most disturbing that I've seen in my entire life, yet it makes me think days after i've seen it. The end will seem rather disappointing and somewhat lacking conclusion, as it simply tells the truth; most instances photographed were "standard operating procedure" and one of the soldiers involved was not allowed to be interviewed for the film. During the credits, however, it gives a website to investigate further. This is a must see if anyone wants to see a breathtaking Iraq War film that is exceptionally unbiased and profound.

Della A. gave it a9:
It invoked in me a compassion that I didn't realize I could have for these kids. I already KNEW they were scapegoats, but this put everything in a whole different light.

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Standard Operating Procedure Sony Pictures Classics

Standard Operating Procedure
Sony Pictures Classics