Op-Docs: ‘November 22, 1963’

By Errol Morris

November 22, 1963: In a short film by Errol Morris, Josiah "Tink" Thompson, who has been investigating the Kennedy assassination for nearly 50 years, looks to the photographic evidence. Will we ever know the truth?

• Op-Docs: 'The Umbrella Man' (November 22, 2011)

• 

  A forum for short, opinionated documentaries, produced with creative latitude by independent filmmakers and artists.

Connect With Us on Twitter

For Op-Ed, follow @nytopinion and to hear from the editorial page editor, Andrew Rosenthal, follow @andyrNYT.

Josiah "Tink" Thompson, the subject of this Op-Doc, graduated from Yale in 1957, became a demolitions expert and frogman for the Navy, and then returned to Yale to get his Ph.D. on the Danish philosopher Soren Kierkegaard.

The Kennedy assassination changed Tink's life. In 1967, he was an assistant professor of philosophy at Haverford, when he published "Six Seconds in Dallas." Short, simple and quietly convincing, it is still one of the best books written about the assassination.

Ten years later, Tink left academia and became a private detective in Northern California. Now he has returned to what has haunted him for 50 years: Frame #313 of the Zapruder film, and our inability to come up with a definitive account of what happened in Dallas.

Is there a lesson to be learned? Yes, to never give up trying to uncover the truth. Despite all the difficulties, what happened in Dallas happened in one way rather than another. It may have been hopelessly obscured, but it was not obliterated. Tink still believes in answers, and in this instance, an answer. He is completing a sequel to "Six Seconds" called "Last Second in Dallas." Like its predecessor, this book is clearly reasoned and convincing. Of course, there will be people who will be unmoved by his or any other account. This is a dogfight with too many dogs in the fight. Most people have already staked out their commitment.

I am fascinated by Tink — see also my earlier short film on him, "The Umbrella Man" — because he is obsessed with the photographic evidence. Not that you can read the truth of what happened off a photographic plate, but that photography can lead you to the truth.

Director Bio: Errol Morris is a writer and filmmaker whose new feature documentary, "The Unknown Known," is soon to be released. His film "The Fog of War: Eleven Lessons From the Life of Robert S. McNamara," won the Academy Award for best documentary feature of 2003. He is the author of "Believing is Seeing: Observations on the Mysteries of Photography" (a book of essays, many of which appeared here) and "A Wilderness of Error: The Trials of Jeffrey MacDonald." His previous Op-Docs are "The Umbrella Man," "El Wingador" and "11 Excellent Reasons Not to Vote?"

Anda sedang membaca artikel tentang

Op-Docs: ‘November 22, 1963’

Dengan url

http://opinimasyarakota.blogspot.com/2013/11/op-docs-anovember-22-1963a.html

Anda boleh menyebar luaskannya atau mengcopy paste-nya

Op-Docs: ‘November 22, 1963’

namun jangan lupa untuk meletakkan link

Op-Docs: ‘November 22, 1963’

sebagai sumbernya