Separated: Errol Morris In Standard Def

Speaking of one of the world’s greatest documentary filmmaker’s latest works coming out on DVD only, today sees the release of Errol Morris’s Separated from Kino Lorber.  Now, Morris films have unfortunately been relegated to DVD only or not at all for a long time now, starting with Virgil’s last minute scrapping of their announced blu-ray of The B-Side in 2017.  Since then, we’ve also had American Dharma on DVD, and Wormwood, My Psychedelic Love Story, Pigeon Tunnel and last year’s Tune Out the Noise all go unreleased.  I don't even know how or if anyone can watch that last one, online or anywhere.  Apparently, it's about advisors?  Maybe it's more of a feature-length work-for-hire advertisement, and that's why not much has been made of it.  But it played at festivals, so who knows?  Anyway, given that environment, I guess getting this DVD at all is cause for minor celebration.
Earlier this year, I saw Morris Tweet his dissatisfaction at NBC, who co-funded and maintained the initial rights to broadcast, for not showing it before the November election.  A warning coming too late.  Though seeing how that bore out, I doubt it would have swayed the results.  And looking at it from the opposite vantage: what would a pre-election airing have done for his doc?  Well, better timing may’ve elevated its perceived relevancy and maybe netted a few more political junkies’ eyes on it.  But with the new administration, and their 2016 policies swinging back into action, the subject matter will unfortunately still probably prove highly relevant for years to come.  And this movie shouldn’t be reliant on momentary buzz; for anyone who knows and appreciates cinema, a new Errol Morris doc is a newsworthy event in its own right.
If it hasn't already been obvious from the cover image, etc, Separated is about the child separation that was being enacted at the US's Southern border, where migrants and their children were being split apart as a deterrent to illegal immigration.  Officially, it's based on the book Separated: Inside an American Tragedy by NBC News' Jacob Sobokoff, who did some crucial first-hand investigation for Dateline at the time.  "It is not a partisan movie. It's about a policy that was disgusting and should not be allowed to happen again. Make your own inferences," Morris advised.
I was initially concerned this might be a quick NBC news item expanded into feature with Morris' name on the cover.  But no, in the music, the editing, the shooting style and his interview style, this definitely feels like an Errol Morris movie, albeit more like Standard Operating Procedure than Vernon, FL.  He gets some strong responses from his interview subjects, and the photography is impressive throughout.  But what proves a little distracting is his use of recreation to dramatize the immigrants' experience.  Morris famously used recreation to great and consequential effect in A Thin Blue Line, but since Wormwood, it feels more like maybe Morris is getting bored with the constraints of traditional documentary filmmaking, and like Josh Oppenheim, is looking to push the envelope for its own sake.  Here, it's certainly effective in illustrating every step of crossing the border, being detained, divided and deported again (in this instance with a happy ending of reunion, though the doc makes clear this has still never happened for over a thousand cases).  But the fact that he never talks with a single parent, child or anyone who's attempted that journey for real is a weak spot.
2024 Kino DVD.
Kino presents Separated in 2.38:1 (the case says 2.40, but close enough), with occasional exceptions for archival footage and creative reshaping.  Yes, this is progressive and anamorphic, no unfortunate surprises here.  And it's at least a dual-layered disc, so compression is strong for standard definition.  But small detail does look fuzzy and slightly out of focus, something which would look much stronger in HD.  But c'est la vie.  We're presented with the choice of 2.0 and 5.1 audio tracks and optional English SDH subtitles, with a handful of foreign language subs burnt in (see the second comparison shot).  The only extra is the trailer and a handful of bonus trailers.

So, it's not exactly the Criterion 4k special edition I would've liked, but I'm glad to have this on my shelf.

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