CommentsXp Best movie ever!

ChicRawIdol A brilliant film that helped define a genre

Melanie Bouvet The movie's not perfect, but it sticks the landing of its message. It was engaging - thrilling at times - and I personally thought it was a great time.

Kamila Bell This is a coming of age storyline that you've seen in one form or another for decades. It takes a truly unique voice to make yet another one worth watching.

SnoopyStyle Errol Morris tackles another former United States Secretary of Defense in Donald Rumsfeld with an in-depth interview. It starts mainly on the invasion of Iraq but covers his entire Washington career and his personal life. The Iraq stuff is not anything new especially if one had paid attention. Rumsfeld is as evasive as ever. His earlier work for previous Presidents holds some interest inside stories. The obvious comparison is Errol Morris' masterpiece "The Fog of War". In that one, Robert McNamara is much less a politician and more of a wise elder lamenting mistakes. That is a much more compelling watch. This one is an extended Sunday morning political talk show and a simple biodoc of Rumsfeld's career. Errol Morris' views are obvious from his questioning. The history is informative but nothing shocking. Maybe in another twenty years, Rumsfeld will have something more interesting and surprising to say.

gavin6942 Former United States Secretary of Defense, Donald Rumsfeld, discusses his career in Washington D.C. from his days as a congressman in the early 1960s to planning the invasion of Iraq in 2003.An interesting technique, having Rumsfeld read his own memos (of which, he estimates, there are millions). This method allows for the historical record to be compared to Rumsfeld's own memory of events.Rumsfeld says he is not "obsessive" but "cool and measured", and his interest in Iraq is the daily reports he was receiving from men in the Middle East. Others, of course, see it differently, and believe the administration actively pursued an excuse to invade Iraq. Morris suggests to Rumsfeld that the American people believed there was a link between 9/11 and Saddam Hussein. Rumsfeld says, "I don't think so... I don't think the American people were confused." Some interesting comments are made. Rumsfeld says, "We don't assassinate leaders of other countries." This is a way to justify invasions, even if it is not entirely true. Regarding his personal life, he comments, "I didn't want to get married, I just didn't want her to marry anyone else." That is an honest statement people can identify with.An interesting aside is when a tape is played where Nixon, Kissinger and Haldeman talk of Rumsfeld as not being loyal and being too close to the media. This ended up being to his advantage, as he left before the stain of Watergate could reach him. In fact, it seems that under President Ford, Rumsfeld got his revenge by encouraging Ford to fire the Nixon appointees. This also lead to the promotion of folks like George Bush and others who would be influential for the next thirty years.Ultimately, the film makes Rumsfeld out to be human rather than anything his critics might want to throw at him. He may not be able to explain away his bad decisions and possible lies, but he presents himself honestly and Morris shows him fairly. This is as balanced a look at a divisive character as anyone could ask for.

bruce-129 I have glanced through the reviews for "Known Unknowns" and I think people's intuitive response to this film, whatever they are are serious and thoughtful - probably the most thoughtful reviews of any movie or documentary around.The comparison of this movie to "The Fog OF War" is natural, I think FOW is the better movie because it seems McNamara is more honest and open and comes from an age of at least attempted honor and sincerity.Rumsfeld does not even answer the question of why he participated in the movie. I think it is to extend his "act" and to make it seem or state that he has no remorse or second thoughts. This is very interesting because in my opinion, whatever direction of political bend the US has at any moment the real problems are generated by people with absolute certainty that feel no second thoughts about playing with millions of people's lives.One of the biggest things Rumsfeld did, his trademark change was the use of contractors in the military - and this movie does not give one line to it. Maybe a good question is why Errol Morris participated in this movie, because I don't think he got much from Rumsfeld but the reading go his vapid self-indulgent memos ... many of which ask his staff to find the dictionary definitions of terms and "type them up".Yet I think that Rumsfeld is a very smart man and is doing things in the US and for the world in the context of this beliefs that need to be done, draining the swamp so to speak of the Middle East. The country has gotten to the point where pursuing "it's destiny" (as the top level elites see it) by its very nature seems to require a kind of shadow government that can and sometimes does undermine the idea of the United States - and they are so busy maintaining the ruse they do not have time to see to managing most of the country.I wish one of "these guys" would come clean and lay out the vision the military has for the country, because the only way the country can move forward is if Americans understand that the military is not going away or being reduced and that is good, far from it, the military is the priority. That would make one of the best movies of all time because something needs to clearly set the expectations of the American people and the world as to the goal of the corporate elite and explain it.

bob the moo Having very much enjoyed the similarly framed Fog Of War, I was of course very curious to see Donald Rumsfeld undergo the same sort of film since in his case his actions have been very much within my lifetime but of course most relevantly in the post-9/11 world. I recall that his frequent ducking and diving with the press during Afghanistan and Iraq saw him to be very nimble on his feet but also prone to flat out denial of things that certainly appeared to be true unless you took an absolute stand on the very specific point of definition. The film starts with Rumsfeld's love of the memo, of which thousands exist, and we jump back through his political career, with the first hour spent pre-Bus administration before the second half circles back very much to the 00's and his role as Defense Secretary.In terms of the ground it covers, the film is inherently interesting and it does at least provide a concise walk through things, with the odd aspect that I was not fully aware. It achieves this not because the film is really interesting, but just because it covers the events and these in themselves are interesting. It helps to understand the players (as many will) but not too much, since the film really will do little for those that know the subject inside out. In terms of the type of reflection and investigation of Fog of War, forget it, none is here and Rumsfeld has no intention of straying from the line he has walked thus far. This makes the film ultimately disappointing – not because I wanted the film to "get him" or reveal him, but just because there is really nothing here to add to the hours of cspan and controlled statements over the past decade.If the film could be said to reveal anything, it is that it reveals the steadfastness and the unwillingness to publicly reflect of Rumsfeld – he grins his way through the film, providing unconvincing defenses of anything put to him and quick to argue even on things about the specific meaning of his "known unknowns" speech. It is a great performance in that regard and the film only reveals how deep entrenched it is. Is this a surprise though? Is it enough to really consider enough to justify the film to find that a man who is a career politician is very good at politics? I think not and ultimately, although the focus of the film inherently provides material of interest, it does little to add to it or to get anywhere that could be said to revealing, insightful or to have made this specific film worthwhile.