Compelling, riveting stuff.

Combining telling interviews, stylized re-enactments, and the infamous photographs themselves, starkly framed against a black background, Morris constructs a fluid narrative that is both shocking and haunting. By letting the perpetrators speak for themselves, and never interjecting with rhetorical narration, he lets the events unfold as is, and allows the wrongdoers to turn themselves into the villains of the piece, through their ignorant statements and forceful pleading. It's admirably restrained and yet still powerful and aggravating.

My only real problem is that Morris' high-tech approach to covering some of the material, most notably the criminal and judicial aspects, seems at odds with the gritty rawness of the rest of the film (and of the photographs) and takes some getting used to. Also, the moment when the investigator distinguishes between "CRIMINAL ACT" and "S.O.P.", complete with the stamping of the photographs, is heavy-handed and the only real moment in the film that feels manipulative and fake.

Still, it's a highly effective, frustrating work. My first taste of Errol Morris, but it won't be my last. A great film from a great filmmaker.

As good as SOP is (and I feel it's one of the year's best), it's not really in the same league as Morris' The Thin Blue Line and The Fog of War. Check those two out immediately.

8/10 -> B

I mostly agree with trix on this one. All the pros/cons are similar to mine. So I won't waste time on typing the same thing again.

What I have to add is that the bonus scenes on the DVD are quite interesting and they shed a different light on some of the participants. They more than confirm their false sense of justice and remorse they are showing.