Documentaries

Documentaries occupied a nebulous zone between art and journalism. They strove to impart an overall truth by documenting real events. But they had to assemble sound and moving images into a coherent story, a process that necessarily introduced creativity. As a form of filmmaking, the documentary traced its roots to the late 19 th century and the first motion pictures. From the start, documentary filmmakers used creative—and sometimes deceptive—techniques. Robert Flaherty, who made the first popular feature-length documentary Nanook of the North (1922), frequently staged scenes for his films. "Sometimes you have to lie to tell the truth," he said. [1]

Reputable documentary filmmakers considered themselves responsible in three areas: to the subject, to the viewer, and to an artistic vision. It was frequently difficult to reconcile the three. [2] For example, telling a clear, understandable story sometimes meant leaving out important contextual details. Choices made to produce a coherent narrative could give viewers a false impression of the passage of time, or of the sequence of events.

One survey of independent documentary filmmakers found that many justified such choices by appealing to a “higher truth.” The report noted that “narrative structure sometimes mandates manipulation, which [documentary filmmakers] often but not always found uncomfortable... The process of film editing—collapsing actual time into screen time while shaping a film story—involves choices that filmmakers often consider in ethical terms.” [3] To be sure, plenty of documentaries resembled fictional films. In an effort to make vivid a period in history, for example, they might use cinematic techniques such as non-original audio, elaborate transitions between scenes, and slow motion. Some used actors to recreate actual events.

Those who produced so-called news documentaries, however, considered themselves bound by the rules of journalism. They shied away from cinematic techniques, drawing instead on interviews and footage of actual events. War documentaries were particularly challenging. Their subject matter was violence, death and extremes of moral behavior; the footage could be troubling to watch. The filmmaker had to walk a fine line between accuracy and prurience.

It could be difficult as well to maintain objectivity in war films. The US wars in Afghanistan and Iraq inspired numerous documentaries. Many of the filmmakers were embedded with US troops. The embed system was a formal relationship between the military and the media established for the 2003 US invasion of Iraq. It gave reporters access to the front line while affording them a measure of safety. But it also made it easier for the military to control what was reported. For example, a study of reporting from the Iraq war found that embedded reporters were much less likely to write about civilians or enemy combatants than their non-embedded colleagues. [4]

Dennis hoped to bridge that gap—to tell a true story about soldiers even as an embedded journalist.


[1] Reel Life Stories, University of California, Berkeley. See: http://www.lib.berkeley.edu/MRC/reellife/quotes.html

[2] Honest Truths: Documentary Filmmakers on Ethical Challenges in Their Work , Center for Social Media, School of Communication, American University. September 2009. See: http://www.centerforsocialmedia.org/making-your-media-matter/documents/best-practices/honest-truths-documentary-filmmakers-ethical-chall

[3] Ibid.

[4] “Controlling the media in Iraq,” Contexts , American Sociological Association, Spring 2008. See http://contexts.org/articles/spring-2008/controlling-the-media-in-iraq/