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The Unknown Known
Directed by
Errol Morris
PG-13
2013
1h 42m
Documentary
,
Biography
,
and more
7.0
81%
70%
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Former United States Secretary of Defense, Donald Rumsfeld, discusses his career in Washington D.C. from his days as a congressman in the early 1960s to planning the invasion of Iraq in 2003.
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Where to Watch The Unknown Known
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Cast of The Unknown Known
Donald Rumsfeld
Self
Kenn Medeiros
Younger Donald Rumsfeld / Secret Service
Errol Morris
Self - Interviewer (voice) / Director / Writer
Amanda Branson Gill
Producer
The Unknown Known Ratings & Reviews
Flavorwire
Jason Bailey
He poses simple questions and lets them talk, and talk, and talk. In doing so, he gives them enough rope to hang themselves.
Film Comment Magazine
Jennifer Dworkin
Morris's commentary comes in the form of stunning images ... and a truly beautiful score ... The Unknown Known is revealing, but what it reveals is emptiness.
Chicago Sun-Times
Bill Stamets
[A] scary inquiry.
Chicago Tribune
Michael Phillips
By now the director's technique is so savvy, so confident in its visual layering and atmospheric assurance, even a dodgy, cagey camera subject such as Rumsfeld becomes movieworthy.
Newsday
John Anderson
Morris doesn't "break" Rumsfeld, as some think he did McNamara. He has held a mirror up to the man, and found no reflection. The viewer simply has to realize that what's important is what's not there.
Grantland
Wesley Morris
What emerges is a fascinating portrait of a bygone approach to power, marked by a seemingly contradictory mix of transparency and obfuscation. Rumsfeld embodies that discrepancy.
Seattle Times
Tom Keogh
A portrait of a wartime leader determined to avoid, at any cost, an honest perspective.
New York Magazine/Vulture
David Edelstein
The Unknown Known is a worthy addition to Morris's body of work, an epic search that demonstrates the limits of language, the ease of sidestepping truth.
Christian Science Monitor
Peter Rainer
Rumsfeld is eerily unflappable. Morris is too polite, or too something, to push back on Rumsfeld.
RogerEbert.com
Godfrey Cheshire
More than any film this reviewer has seen in ages, "The Unknown Known" richly rewards a second viewing.
Philadelphia Inquirer
Tirdad Derakhshani
We get little in response from Rumsfeld but a demonstration of his cunning at parrying, dodging, and twisting queries.
Movie Mom
Nell Minow
Like Jack Nicholson in "A Few Good Men" he does not think we can handle the truth. He may be right.
Boston Globe
Mark Feeney
The only self-examination he ever subjects himself to would appear to involve a shaving mirror and lather.
Wall Street Journal
Joe Morgenstern
What's so striking is the abstract nature of his discourse; what's so chilling is his dispassion.
New York Daily News
Joe Neumaier
The matchup, culled from 30 hours of interviews, is intoxicating, and at times maddening, to watch.
San Francisco Chronicle
Mick LaSalle
In short bursts, Rumsfeld is an engaging, witty personality. For the first half hour, no matter what your politics are, you will find yourself liking him. He's good company ... until he's not.
Washington Post
Ann Hornaday
We might have journeyed inside Rumsfeld's mindset for a while, but are we richer for the excursion?
Los Angeles Times
Kenneth Turan
Much against Rumsfeld's will, what the film inevitably reveals, in Morris' words, is "a man using language to obscure the world from himself as well as from others."
Entertainment Weekly
Owen Gleiberman
The film's message seems to be that in corrupt governments, words are used not to communicate but as a kind of fascist confetti.
New York Post
Kyle Smith
Morris is heard badgering Rumsfeld on camera about torture, WMD intelligence and the handling of the war. His subject, though, earns at least a draw.
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