Watch The Unknown Known

A film by acclaimed documentary filmmaker Errol Morris, its title taken from the famous Rumsfeld quote leading up to the first Iraq war. The documentary focuses on former US Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld. An in-depth interview that begins at the start of his career as a young congressman during the Vietnam war era, progresses through his stint as a NATO ambassador and then White House chief of staff in the seventies, and culminates with the central concern; his involvement in the 2003 invasion of Iraq. The result is an hour and a half of footage boiled down from thirty four hours of one on one conversation between the two men. The interview is conducted using Morris' signature Interrotron camera, which uses mirrors to project the interviewer's image and allow the interview subject to speak directly to the camera. This means that only Rumsfeld is on screen most of the time, interspersed with archival footage. The politician also reads from many of the White House memos related to the war.