Film: Standard Operating Procedure
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"Standard Operating Procedure" Goes Behind the Photos from Abu Ghraib
"Standard Operating Procedure" is a documentary by Academy Award-winning filmmaker and card-carrying ACLU member, Errol Morris about 12 photographs that distill the abuse and torture that took place at the Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq. The film features interviews with the Army personnel who took the pictures or, in some cases, are in the pictures. "Standard Operating Procedure" explores how the soldiers at Abu Ghraib were scapegoated as “a few bad apples” to cover up the torture policies that were authorized at the highest levels of the Bush administration.
The ACLU has allied with Participant Media in their social action campaign around "Standard Operating Procedure." Errol Morris spoke with Jameel Jaffer, Director of the ACLU’s National Security Project, about the film and how the photos and documents the ACLU helped release through the Freedom of Information Act together tell a pretty damning story of the administration's abuses of power at every level. Resources for the social action campaign including a downloadable discussion guide and links to more information about our work in this area can be found at www.takepart.com/sop. "Standard Operating Procedure" opens on Friday, April 25th in New York, May 5 in Los Angeles, and will expand nationwide through the summer.
Director Errol Morris received an Academy Award for his 2004 film "The Fog of War," a profile of Robert S. McNamara, Secretary of Defense during the Vietnam War. Morris's controversial 1988 film, "The Thin Blue Line" explored the conviction of Randall Dale Adams for the 1976 murder of a Dallas police officer. After the film's release, Adams' conviction was overturned, and he was released from prison. "Standard Operating Procedure" is Morris's eighth film.