I had the privilege of meeting with Errol Morris back in the late ’90s.  He came to Mary Washington College to speak at an engagement that Professor Gardner Campbell had arranged.  I was in Professor Campbell’s film theory class at the time, and we had viewed a number of Morris’s films.¹  At the time, Morris was interested in developing ways to allow the subject of an interview to speak directly into the camera, or through the camera, and thus connect more directly with the audience. I’ve been following Morris since then, and still thank Prof. Campbell for introducing us to him.

Morris has been publishing regularly for a blog in The New York Times called “Zoom,” and it’s always a fascinating look at film from some unexpected and enlightening angles.²  For example, in the second part of his series on re-enactments, “Play It Again, Sam,” Morris starts with a simple question: why are so many people obsessed with continuity errors in film?  From there, he moves on to wrestle with the nature of reality, esse est percipi, questions of time, existence, relevance, and how the mind perceives, and ultimately the ritualistic nature of re-enactments in film and life, ending with this:

Consciousness, itself, is a re-enactment of reality inside our heads.

Those are the kinds of connections I thrill to.

1. Gates of Heaven; The Thin Blue Line; Vernon, Florida; and A Brief History of Time specifically [back]
2. Not to mention a constant demonstration of just how damned smart Morris is. [back]

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