B. Feature Length Documentaries: “Important Documentaries”: 1970-1990: The Thin Blue Line

The content of the feature film, The Thin Blue Line, directed by Errol Morris was not considered to be a traditional documentary during the era it was released (1988), for it allowed multiple points of view and the dramatizations performed throughout the film. Nonetheless, it is a successful film which slowly unveiled the truth being the 1976 murder of Dallas police officer Robert Wood. The two protagonists involved are Randall Adams, who has been in jail for 11 years, and David Harris, who is serving time for an unrelated crime. Local authorities believed Harris’ story, testifying that Adams was the one who has shot and killed Wood after their car had been pulled over on their way home from a movie. Adams however claimed to know nothing about the murder, insisting that Harris had dropped him home two hours before the incident. Prior to his sentence being later revoked by the Supreme Court, Adams was convicted with a death sentence. The viewers later learn that Adams are convicted of a crime he was totally innocent of, which influences and impacts the audience to re-think their opinions and thoughts about their local authorities.

The simplicity and basic structure of Morris’ documentary is deceivingly conventional. There are three fundamental concepts that Morris merges together. Firstly, the core of the narrative is told by the participants in interviews to the camera: Adams himself; David Harris, who claimed to have been in the car as Adams shot Wood; members of the police force that investigated the case; eyewitnesses to the shooting; Adams’ lawyers; and the judge in the original trial. Secondly, Morris shows us pieces of raw, true documentary evidence: crime scene photos and diagrams, newspaper reports, illustrations by court reporters, mugshots and line-up photos. Lastly, as each participant provides contradictory perspectives on the murder, we see a recreation of the events, each adding or subtracting new details based upon the account we have heard.

The techniques used by Morris not only enhances the raw and true concept of the film, but it offers a new direction to documentaries.