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Standard Operating Procedure is a damning investigation into the atrocities committed by US soldiers in Abu Ghraib. The documentary follows the story of the infamous pictures which sparked outcry in 2004. The photographs, combined with interviews with several of the soldiers involved, provide a good understanding of what actually occurred at “Abu G.”
Like Conrad’s “Heart of Darkness,” Standard Operating Procedure takes its audience to a place altogether bereft of restraint, revealing the “prehistoric evil” which is routed within most men, but hidden behind centuries of pretense and civilisation. In appearance, soldiers like Charles Graner (the worst of the lot, now serving ten years imprisonment) are charming and friendly, but within is this terrible capacity to take part in such horrors.
Documentarian Errol Morris takes as objective a viewpoint as possible, however, there is no escaping the horrors of what occurred. The evident evil transcends politics, venturing into the human psyche. Those interviewed did not seem to realise the shame of their acts; they either attempt to blame the situation in which they found themselves or claim the whole thing to be a joke, which went a “little” far. The soldiers undoubtedly suffered from the conditions of war, but that is no excuse for such a disgusting lack of restraint. Sabrina, the woman who took many of the pictures, claims that she was documenting them to build a case against the US army. But when one sees pictures of her smiling with her thumb up over a dead man murdered by her friends at Abu Ghraib, it is not easy to believe her.
While the film is a must see for those eager to understand better the horrors of the Iraq War, Standard Operating Procedure is a graphic spectacle. It is graphic simply because it must be so in order to get its point across – the brutal truth. Some of the images involved may easily provoke tears, anger and bitter disgust. A film for the misanthrope.
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