"The Thin Blue Line" is a masterpiece that marks the birth of "New Documentary Film". The film presents a judicial "farce" in which an authoritative and fair judicial trial is far from the truth. Director Morris is unconventional and uses multiple "truths" to inspire the audience to think about "truths", with strong postmodernist characteristics
Under the collage of fragmented material, its narrative clues are still relatively clear under the action of editing. From Adams and Harris about the general process of the case, to the detailed description of Adams' trial and investigation of the case, to the discovery of Harris' criminal record and motive, as well as the disclosure of details of court testimony and judicial procedures, Adams has been clarified step by step. The fact of being wrongly convicted, and ends with a tape recording of Harris' confession at the end. As the visual presentation and visual evidence of the interview content, it keeps pace with the words that appear in the narrative, and constructs a visual narrative space about the past, constantly interacting with the current narrative space of the interview, pointing to the real existence eleven years ago. history/memory space.
In the United States, the "thin blue line" pattern has another interpretation: the blue line that runs across the middle represents the entire police force, the black upper half represents society, and the black lower half represents criminals. The overall pattern shows that police officers are a force between social stability and violent crime. The whole documentary has a lot of details, which is very interesting, but if you don't watch it carefully, you may not understand it for a while. The filming method of this documentary has also been quoted by many directors today, which is of admiration significance.
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