The Truth Shall Set him Free

Title:  The Truth Shall set him Free

Name: Jane Kasukonis

Personal Response to Film:
       I had a positive personal response to The Thin Blue Line by Errol Morris.  I have always enjoyed watching documentaries and looked forward to watching a documentary in class and analyzing it.  I tend to gravitate towards murder/mystery documentaries and television shows.  I like the suspense, different angles of thought, and the excitement of coming to the conclusion.  I enjoyed watching The Thin Blue Line because of the interview style Morris used as well as the different re-enactments throughout the film.  The re-enactments were important to show that the truth is hard to find.  Each re-enactment was slightly different which was key in showing that the truth is hard to find and there were many different perceptions to this case. 

Summary of Critical Article: 

       The article I chose to read was The Thin Blue Line and the Ambiguous Truth by Lucien Flores.  This article describes how difficult, or easy, it is to persuade someone’s opinions and beliefs.  There are many interpretations of the truth in this specific case and Morris is on the side of innocence.  Flores analyzes different scenes in The Thin Blue Line to show how Morris convinces his audience of Randall Adams’ innocence.  Morris does this by focusing on how the interviews and re-enactments were constructed in the film.  For instance, the re-enactments have little changes to each of them.  This is to show how difficult it can be to reach the truth and how easy it can be to be persuaded.  The re-enactments take form of a film noir by having the scene dark and shadowy, dramatic, and mysterious.

       The article talks about how and why scenes are constructed but, also the validity of Morris’ story.  Morris conducted 3 years of research that included many interviews and discussions with police officers, judges, the district attorney, the defendant, and three supposable eyewitnesses to the murder.  Flores reminds his audience that Morris truly believed in Adams’ innocence and this why the documentary is constructed the way it is.  It is made to persuade the audience that Adams is in fact innocent.

Response to Critical Article:

      My personal response to this critical article is I believe it can be easy to persuade someone’s thoughts.  Flores talks about the beginning of the case and how Adams was depicted as a drifter, someone to not care about, and a possible predator.  Right away jurors, officials, and the public have a negative bias towards Adams.  His guilt will only stem from the initial stereotype given to them by the police.  On the other hand, Morris may do the same thing and give us the other side of things.  In his documentary he uses different techniques to invalidate eyewitnesses and show persons of the defense as trustworthy.  An example used in Flores’ article is the interview with eyewitness Emily Miller.  Her interview gave the audience an untrustworthy perception of her, as well as invalidate anything she said.  Morris achieved this by editing her interview to make her look unbelievable.  He sandwiched her interview in between other interviews that undermine and discredit Miller, giving the audience that thoughts that she can’t be trusted. 

      I enjoyed reading this critical article, as I usually have throughout this semester.  The article gives me a different look at how and why the film was created the way it was.  Nothing is done by chance, if I have learned anything from these articles it is that every detail is meticulous and planned.

Consideration of Critic’s Use of Critical frameworks/concepts:

     The critical framework used in the critical article has a formalist interpretation.  The article clearly discusses points of view, different tones set with each interview, and the layers that were incorporated in creating The Thin Blue Line.  Flores presents information in his article in a critical way by evaluates many different pieces of the documentary to conclude with an overall analysis for the audience.  Flores also uses repetition of stating Adams’ innocence to persuade his audience, which in turn shows his personal belief in the case.

Film Analysis:

      The scene I will be analyzing is the interview scene with Emily Miller.  I chose this scene because it stood out to me as strong evidence of persuasion in invalidating Adams’ conviction.  Morris is specific with every detail of this scene to discredit what Emily Miller has testified.  Morris uses child-like music in the background while Emily Miller is talking.  She is also discussing her childhood dreams of becoming a detective or a wife of a detective.  Morris uses these statements in the interview to undermine anything Miller says.  Morris also play a clip from the detective show Miller is talking about so, the audience doesn’t even see Miller speaking some of the time.  The audience is watching this ridiculous black and white detective film clip while Miller is speaking, which was also purposeful in Morris’ portrayal of Miller.  Throughout the interview, Miller is also smiling most of the time.  This documentary is about a murder trial, which is a very serious matter, and the other interviewees were never filmed smiling.  Miller has an untrustworthy feel because she is smiling during this interview, like it’s a joke or a game for her to indulge in.  This was tactful in Morris’ editing to persuade his audience to form a negative opinion of Miller.  This scene analysis ties in with the analysis of the critical article.  Morris also placed interviews before and after the Miller interview that discredited Miller.  This technique amplified the audience’s dislike of Emily Miller.

References

Flores, L. (2012). The thin blue line and the ambiguous truth.