Actuakers One of my all time favorites.

Rijndri Load of rubbish!!

PodBill Just what I expected

Kimball Exactly the movie you think it is, but not the movie you want it to be.

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.

vostf Either Errol Morris underestimated Donald Rumsfeld or he was overly confident about the power of his medium, but the result is far below The Fog of War.Sure McNamara had had time to mellow and he wouldn't deny mistakes while Rumsfeld won't move an inch, except for the staged emotional bit, so in the Unknown Known we only have politics at its worst: unabashed dissimulation, total rejection of any form of empathy (while it was one of the Eleven Lessons from Robert S. McNamara, Empathize with your Enemy) all wrapped up in the flag and under the pretence that "We, the Best Breed of Politicians, have to make important decisions that are way too complex for you, Little Man, to begin to understand".Watching Rumsfeld having it his way, no less than during his own press conferences where he toyed around with journalists, is a profoundly disgusting and distressing vision. He unflinchingly tell us "Ok, eventually there were no Weapons of Mass Destruction in Irak, intelligence was flawed, but going after Saddam Hussein has made the world a better place all the same". Intelligence was not just flawed, it was distorted and even fabricated to please the warmongers.Bad things (like torture) just happens. Even when you are doing a heck of a job. That is Rumsfeld definitive argument and Errol Morris gets stuck in the "beauty of evil rhetorics" like a deer in the headlights. It is distressing to think that someone watching this without knowing all the subtext would think of Rumsfeld as a role model for Statesmen. The only redeeming part is that the documentary succeeds in suggesting how big a SOB Rumsfeld has been during his career, so much so that Reagan picked his rival George HW Bush as his running mate, sparing the World the disaster of having Rumsfeld President in the 80s. Then he had to work for Bush Jr and his former deputy, yet maybe that gave the same general disaster (geopolitical, economical...) as having Rumsfeld officially in the Oval Office.

arfdawg-1 A film that gets good reviews even though everyone hates the subject. Huh?Don't listen to the left wing propaganda machine and their incessant need to denigrate Bush or anyone on the right for that matter.They are a sick bunch.A lot of the reviewers don't get the fact that Rumsfeld is a funny guy with a very drawl sense of humor. So they'll tell you he's dumb or says nothing.They are just looking for something to support their crazy case.Rumsfeld comes across as a brilliant mind. Here's an example: the interviewers says something along the lines of "why did they have to invade Iraq. Why didn't they just assassinate?Rumsfeld says Whose they?Answer: UsRumsfeld: You didn't say we you said they.Perfect.He picked up on that nuance and put the interviewer in his place.It's a decent doc as docs go.

Ronnie Spencer The Unknown Known is Errol Morris' biopic on Donald Rumsfeld, navy officer, congressman, special envoy, secretary of defense for two presidents(Jerry Ford and W.) Morris's previous work includes Gates of Heaven, Vernon, Florida, Thin Blue Line, A Brief History of Time and Fog of War all highly praised and, along with Chris Marker, he might be the most idiosyncratic picture maker of the post-modern era. Famous sequences: Rumsfeld explaining the "unknown known;" his early career in the Nixon and Ford administrations; the black and white time lapse sequences; the attack on the Pentagon; Rumsfeld constant smirk as he explains his actions before and after 9/11. this one isn't probably isn't up to par with his other work and it might not please the echo chambers on both sides of the political spectrum. however, it's worth a look.