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The Unknown Known Reviews

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Summary In The Unknown Known, Errol Morris offers a portrait of Donald Rumsfeld, one of the key architects of the Iraq War, and a larger-than-life character who provoked equal levels of fury and adulation from the American public. Rather than conducting a conventional interview, Morris has Rumsfeld perform and expound on his “snowflakes,” tens ...

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The film is a cat-and-mouse game in which each player thinks he’s the cat, making it both thrilling and disconcerting to watch. It is also a nature documentary about behavior at the very top of the imperial food chain and a detective story about the search for a mystery that is hidden in plain sight.

Intoxicating, and at times maddening, to watch.

You should watch this movie to understand a great deal more about a generation of elderly white men clinging to power. I haven't had such a satisfying documentary experience since the two Gasland movies. It is fascinating to witness such a powerful figure as Rumsfeld, explain the motives of his actions. The twist and turns of logic this obviously extremely intelligent person takes, to obfuscate and to dodge questions. It seems this ability also works against himself. tl:dr - Movie is amazing, why are you not watching it already?

The Unknown Known is a documentary about Donald Rumsfeld, the former Secretary of Defense and one of the leading minds behind the Iraq war. Errol Morris does a fantastic job interviewing Rmsfeld. Questions that Morris asks Romsfeld and gives him enough time not only to respond, but also to think about his responses and express how he feels about them. Very often Romsfeld answers a question in a way that he think is smart and elegant then he reacts to his own response with a smug smile but his answers are more nicely worded sentences with no substantial meaning and significance. I'm not giving a high score to this movie because it does not reveal anything interesting about Romsfeld's career and the truth behind the war. The movie, however, shows how the course of Romsfeld's carrier could have been different and how it could make a difference in the lives of hundreds of millions of people.

Focusing on Rumsfeld’s 2001-06 stint at the Pentagon, Morris scrutinizes his rhetoric and rationale for attacking Iraq and Afghanistan. Tactics and costs take a back seat to semantics.

Over the course of 106 minutes, Rumsfeld's rambling assertions grow exhausting, particularly because Morris never manages to direct them toward a larger argument.

To take the playfully convoluted, semi-nonsensical aggression of Rumsfeld's language and make it the whole point of a movie is to fall into the trap of mistaking the spin for the story.

Morris's new subject looks relaxed and comfortable as ever lobbing out the same old evasions. He probably loves the attention from the Oscar-winning director.

Morris gives it the old college try, but Rumsfeld is too smooth an operator to let anything slip.

I want to believe the underlying point of this documentary is to remind us that Donald Rumsfeld isn't going to say anything that goes beyond the mandate of his positions in government, and if that was the underlying point then this documentary did just that. The Unknown Known is exactly what was portrayed -- we already didn't know what Rumsfeld knows. That said, if you're looking for another Fog of War, this documentary is almost the complete opposite of it. Nothing is revealed on the part of Rumsfeld other than the Known Knowns.

Production Company History Films, Moxie Pictures, Participant, RADiUS-TWC

Release Date Apr 2, 2014

Duration 1 h 43 m

Rating PG-13

Tagline Why is this man smiling?

International Film Music Critics Award (IFMCA)

• 1 Win & 1 Nomination

Bergen International Film Festival

• 1 Win & 1 Nomination