Errol Morris on Documenting Bannon
The Lawfare Podcast
The Lawfare Institute
4.7 • 6.4K Ratings
🗓️ 22 June 2019
⏱️ 55 minutes
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Summary
Errol Morris is a celebrated documentarian whose films have covered an array of topics in law and national security. They include "The Fog of War," which won an Oscar for its account of Robert McNamara's role in and lessons from the Vietnam War, and "The Unknown Known," which told the story of the political career of Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld. Morris most recently directed "American Dharma," a documentary profile of former Trump strategist Steve Bannon. Earlier this year, Morris sat down with Jack Goldsmith for a conversation about those three films.
They talked about what interested Morris about McNamara, Rumsfeld, and Bannon; why Morris believed each of them agreed to be interviewed by him; and much more.
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| 0:22.0 | rational security, chatter, law fair no bull, and the aftermath. |
| 0:29.0 | When a run's fell movie came out, people would invidiously compare it to the fog of war, |
| 0:41.0 | fog of war good, unknown, bad, why? |
| 0:45.0 | One person said to me, because, and I'm an anti-redemption guy, |
| 0:51.0 | I don't really believe in redemption. |
| 0:53.0 | Why, because McNamara said he was sorry. |
| 0:58.0 | Maybe their crocodile tears. However, you want to describe it, |
| 1:02.0 | he indicated a level of remorse about what he had done in the past, |
| 1:10.0 | where the run's fell did not. |
| 1:12.0 | I guess that's another index, how you evaluate films, |
| 1:18.0 | particularly films about historical figures, how much remorse do they show, |
| 1:23.0 | unless they're undisputable good guy figures. |
| 1:27.0 | I'm Matthew Kahn, and this is the LawFair podcast June 21st, 2019. |
| 1:33.0 | Errol Morris is a celebrated documentarian whose films have covered |
| 1:37.0 | an array of topics in law and national security. |
| 1:41.0 | They include the fog of war, which won an Oscar for its account of Robert McNamara's role, |
| 1:46.0 | in and lessons from the Vietnam War, |
... |
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