“THE UNKNOWN KNOWN” My rating: B (Opening April 11 at the Screenland Crown Center)
103 minutes | MPAA rating: PG-13
Who the hell is Donald Rumsfeld, anyway?
I mean, I know he has been a career public servant since the Nixon administration, a bureaucrat with unmatchable survival instincts. I know he’s served as Secretary of Defense under two presidents, that he was one of the major creators of the War on Terror.
I remember being in awe of Rummy for his passive/aggressive handling of journalists during the Iraq war – he could engage in a seemingly affable conversation while giving the unmistakable impression that he considered all reporters to be idiots bent on wasting his time.
Was I amused at his disdain for a free press? Outraged? Both, actually.
But, inside, who is this guy?
I had hoped for answers from “The Unknown Known,” the latest documentary from Errol Morris. A few years back in “The Fog of War” Morris turned his camera on Vietnam war architect Robert McNamara, and the result was an Oscar-winning study of a once-powerful man haunted by his mistakes.
So perhaps Morris would work the same sort of magic on Donald Rumsfeld?
Dream on. For starters, the word “mistake” may not even exist in Rumsfeld’s vocabulary. His admitting to one would be a sure sign of the End of Days.
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