Review of The Thin Blue Line (1988) by Aaron A — 07 Sep 2011

"any prosecutor can convict a guilty man. It takes a great prosecutor to convict an innocent man.".

Synopsis: Through archival footage, interviews and reenactments, The Thin Blue Line makes a case for the innocence of a man who happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time.

I can see why The Thin Blue Line could have been all but forgotten through the years since it's 1988 launch. It's a documentary, and a rather economically produced one at that, and documentaries are so rarely popular among casual moviegoers; but also because the story is one that revolves around a single event, an event similar to many others, and it's narrow focus may strike others as personally unimportant. But really? what could be more important than the flaws of a justice system that millions of people rely on everyday.

And The Thin Blue Line is important and groundbreaking, if not for it's story (which is) than for it's storytelling. If feels very familiar to me, but thats because I was born just a year before this film was released, and apparently, virtually all documentaries released afterwards were heavily inspired by The Thin Blue Line's pioneering use of reenactments. But just because the picture was the first doesn't mean it isn't polished work. The re-enactments are highly memorable even if your witnessing it for the first time in 2011; mainly because director Errol Morris adds a thick expressionistic atmosphere to these enactments.

The Thin Blue Line is perhaps one of the most important documentaries ever made, not only did result in the release of a innocent man, but was also a watershed in non-fiction filmmaking.