The Stranger

Errol Morris's new documentary about the low-ranking "bad apples" who were charged with various forms of prisoner abuse at Abu Ghraib isn't exactly revelatory. You've already read the facts, and the photographs that shocked the entire world are burned into your retinas. What the film does, admirably, is pose the questions that up until now had been purely, purposefully rhetorical: Who would commit such a heinous act? And why in the world would you photograph it? The film has drawn criticism because Morris paid his subjects, possibly influencing their stories, but at least he doesn't seem to pressure his subjects to deflect blame. The reenactments in the film have also sparked controversy, but the distinct look of those shots make it clear that these images portray only one hypothetical version of events. The film is a fascinating, if limited, glimpse at the small personalities that handed the United States its greatest humiliation in decades. By Annie Wagner

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