Errol Morris’ SEPARATED is Our Hope for Investigative Documentaries
I spoke to a hero of mine. Errol Morris is a mastermind at telling the Truth. He can take facts and pieces of the human experience and tell us a story that is profoundly enlightening. So when he calls SEPARATED “the best collaboration of my life,” that communicates such a deep urgency in the subject. SEPARATED probes the darkest chapter in recent American history: Donald Trump’s policies that led to family separations at our border and a human rights catastrophe.
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“He may have won the election but he’s not in charge of our moral universe.” – Errol Morris
After watching SEPARATED and reading the book that inspired it, I am so in awe of the dedication to this film, both from Morris and Jacob Soboroff, the producer of the film and author of the book. I can genuinely call my moments listening to them as an honor.
A question I forgot to ask how both Soboroff and Morris saw the future of their industries, Soboroff with investigative journalism and Morris with documentary filmmaking. I will likely regret not asking that question for years to come. These two men are the only ones I can even think of who might know how to help their industries continue with integrity.
However, if you’re reading this and you are a writer or documentarian, I have held on to something Morris said and it speaks to the morality, ethics and integrity of documentary filmmaking, “I habitually don’t know where I’m going. I let the material and the process of investigating material guide me.”
At first, I saw this as a self-deprecating statement from a humble filmmaker. But after a day to reflect, I realize that his faith in the process is how he stays connected to the truth of the subject.
“I habitually don’t know where I’m going. I let the material and the process of investigating material guide me.” – Errol Morris
And even in watching the dramatization of a mother separated from her child, I can understand through what is technically fiction how he was able to tell the overarching truth that the harm done to a child can have a century of consequences. Weaving that story with the unraveling of human rights through emails, interviews, and news footage kicks us in the gut in a way a list of facts and data cannot do.
Another moment in the interview that sticks on the walls of my brain is when Morris said about Trump, “He may have won the election but he’s not in charge of our moral universe.” Through this film and other investigative filmmaking, we are able to take the power of propaganda away from people who hold rein over us.
Here is the interview on Fog of Truth.
Separated plays on MSNBC December 7
