Fresh
Morris is admirably evenhanded, never demonizing his subject, but giving him enough rope to hang himself. Rumsfeld, cool and bemused, refuses to knot the noose.
Colin Covert, Minneapolis Star Tribune
The Unknown Known
Why is this man smiling?
2013 · 1h 42m
Documentary, History
Directed by
Errol Morris
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The Unknown Known
Overview
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.
Director and cast
Critics on Rotten Tomatoes
Top critics, in their words
83%
Tomatometer
Fresh
[A] scary inquiry.
Bill Stamets, Chicago Sun-Times
Fresh
By now the director's technique is so savvy, so confident in its visual layering and atmospheric assurance, even a dodgy, cagey camera subject such as Rumsfeld becomes movieworthy.
Michael Phillips, Chicago Tribune
Fresh
Morris doesn't "break" Rumsfeld, as some think he did McNamara. He has held a mirror up to the man, and found no reflection. The viewer simply has to realize that what's important is what's not there.
John Anderson, Newsday
Fresh
What emerges is a fascinating portrait of a bygone approach to power, marked by a seemingly contradictory mix of transparency and obfuscation. Rumsfeld embodies that discrepancy.
Wesley Morris, Grantland
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