Donald Rumsfeld, certezas desconocidas (Errol Morris, 2013) : Filmoteca de no ficción

Donald Rumsfeld, certezas desconocidas
The Unknown Known: The Life and Times of Donald Rumsfeld
Errol Morris (EE.UU. de América, 2013) [105 min]

(wikipedia | filmaffinity)

Sinopsis:

Donald Rumsfeld

invasión de Iraq

guerra en Afganistán

Comentario personal:

Ni Mona Lisa ni gato de Cheshire ni el Joker. No hay sonrisa equiparable a la de Donald Rumsfeld. Es intrigante, perversa y falsamente cordial. El ex Secretario de Defensa de Estados Unidos la sube a sus comisuras cada vez que sabe que está silenciando alguna información importante, que está escurriendo un bulto, que se está metiendo en un jardín o que, directamente, está mintiendo. Cada vez que Donald Rumsfeld echa mano de este mohín exculpatorio en "The Unknown Known", su rostro se torna el icono de varios fracasos: 1) el de Errol Morris como entrevistador inhábil para cobrarse alguna declaración epifánica, o como mínimo sincera, de su entrevistado; algo que sí sucedía en "The Fog of War" (2003), su tercer grado a otro ilustre secretario de Defensa estadounidense, Robert MacNamara. 2) El de Rumsfeld como político resabiado que se considera sobradamente preparado para torear los embistes de cualquier interlocutor y, en realidad, se delata más por lo que calla que por lo que dice. Y 3) el de Estados Unidos como país incapaz de meditar públicamente sobre su bochornoso papel en algunos episodios turbios de la política internacional reciente. Orgulloso, contradictorio y enervantemente autosuficiente, Rumsfeld en ningún momento se deja retratar por Morris… pero Morris sí deja que uno de los actores más taimados de la última administración Bush se acabe retratando a sí mismo.

Scott Foundas, en Variety, escribió:Errol Morris hace un mano a mano con Donald Rumsfeld en esta secuela conceptual fríamente hipnótica de "Rumores de guerra'".

Todd McCarthy, en The Hollywood Reporter, escribió:Un intento fallido de entrar en la cabeza y bajo la piel (...) del Secretario de Defensa y defensor de la Guerra de Irak, Donald Rumsfeld.

Luis Martínez, en El Mundo, escribió:El documentalista Errol Morris se esfuerza por desnudar a Donald Rumsfeld, pero el ex secretario de Defensa de Estados Unidos no se deja enredar.

Carlos Boyero, en El País, escribió:Un individuo vehemente que da mucho miedo. La forma de arropar la entrevista me gusta menos. (...) utiliza abusivamente la decepcionante música que ha compuesto Danny Effman.

Jordi Costa, en El País, escribió:La película es el retrato de un hombre inquietante (...) Morris decide tomar el lenguaje como ring para su fascinante duelo con Rumsfeld.

En SensaCine se escribió:El director ganador de un Oscar por "Rumores de guerra", Errol Morris ofrece en "The Unknown Known" un retrato fascinante sobre Donald Rumsfeld, uno de los principales arquitectos de la Guerra de Iraq, un personaje grandioso cuyo carácter provocó los mismos niveles de furia y adulación por parte del pueblo estadounidense. En vez de llevar a cabo una entrevista convencional, Morris conseguirá que Rumsfeld vague entre sus recuerdos para sacar a la luz aquellos que nunca han sido publicados sobre su vida como congresista y asesor de cuatro residentes distintos, dos veces como Secretario de Defensa. Estas memorias nos abrirán una ventana a la Historia, no tal como ocurrió sino como Rumsfeld quiere hacernos creer que ocurrió. Morris intentará demostrar, dilucidar y racionalizar que las memorias del ex congresista se contradicen con la verdad.

detalles técnicos u otros: mostrar contenido

AMG SYNOPSIS: In The Unknown Known, award-winning documentarian Errol Morris turns his camera on the career of Donald Rumsfeld, who served in numerous executive positions throughout his career in Washington, D.C., but most famously as Secretary of Defense in the first decade of the 21st century. During his tenure at that job, he helped orchestrate the Iraq War, and became a controversial figure for many of the things that transpired under his watch. Morris uses his typical stylized approach -- including first-hand interviews with Rumsfeld himself -- and a wealth of archival footage to delineate how his subject's public statements and private actions did not always reconcile. The Unknown Known screened at the 2013 Toronto International Film Festival. -- Perry Seibert

AMG REVIEW: While it's easy to think of Errol Morris' The Unknown Known, the documentarian's examination of Donald Rumsfeld, as a companion piece to The Fog of War, his Oscar-winning look at Robert McNamara, there is something that sets this more recent movie apart, not only from that film, but from practically all of his other work: The Unknown Known is his angriest movie.

The film follows the pattern of Morris' earlier pictures. He creates a steady flow of images that give some poetic zing to the historical events described, but the film is dominated by an intimate interview with the subject, conducted in a way that forces the person in question to look directly into the camera. The audience sees, just as Morris does, how Rumsfeld quickly reverts to a sly chuckle or a forced smile whenever he wants to deflect a difficult question.

Morris lays out Rumsfeld's extensive career in Washington, how his ties with other Iraq War architects like Dick Cheney go back decades, and how Rumsfeld's managerial style resulted in a vast number of memos. You would think, with such a large amount of written material at everyone's fingertips, that the truth about Rumsfeld would be easy to ascertain. However, Rumsfeld continually posits so many scenarios, what-ifs, and qualifiers that he effectively gives himself plausible deniability at every turn. This makes him, in many ways, the most infuriating subject of Morris' career.

In The Fog of War, Robert McNamara, who was the Secretary of Defense during the Vietnam War, admitted that mistakes were made -- not just by the government and the military, but by himself as well. Rumsfeld never comes close to making any such revelation, and we can hear the frustration in Morris' voice as his questions grow more pointed; he's voicing our own reaction to Rumsfeld's smug disregard for self-analysis.

At one point, Morris, irritated by the lack of clear-cut answers, asks his subject why he agreed to be interviewed at all. That's a valid inquiry, but as with all of the questions about the war, Rumsfeld proves he's either unwilling or simply unable to discuss what he believes.

The title of the film is a riff on Rumsfeld's infamous quote about the government's inability to prove that Iraq was developing weapons of mass destruction. He stated: "Reports that say that something hasn't happened are always interesting to me, because as we know, there are known knowns; there are things we know that we know. There are known unknowns; that is to say, there are things that we now know we don't know. But there are also unknown unknowns -- there are things we do not know we don't know."

"Unknown known" is a ridiculous turn of phrase, but one that accurately symbolizes Rumsfeld's practiced obtuseness. No matter how hard Morris tries, he never gets Rumsfeld to see the failings that are right in front of him. That makes for a fascinating, yet emotionally frustrating movie. -- Perry Seibert

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