Standard Operating Procedure (film)

Standard Operating Procedure
Theatrical release poster
Directed by	Errol Morris
Written by	Errol Morris
Produced by	Julie Ahlberg
Cinematography	Robert Chappell Robert Richardson
Edited by	Andy Grieve Steven Hathaway Dan Mooney
Music by	Danny Elfman
Production company	Participant Media
Distributed by	Sony Pictures Classics
Release date	April 25, 2008 (2008-04-25)
Running time	118 minutes
Country	United States
Language	English
Box office	$321,820

Standard Operating Procedure is a 2008 American documentary film written and directed by Errol Morris that explores the meaning of the photographs taken by U.S. military police at the Abu Ghraib prison in late 2003, the content of which revealed the torture and abuse of its prisoners by U.S. soldiers and subsequently resulted in a public scandal.

Commenting on the relationship of his film to the notorious photographs, Morris has said his intent was "…not to say that these 'bad apples' were blameless… but… to say that they were scapegoats. It was easy to blame them because, after all, they were in the photographs… Photographs don’t tell us who the real culprits might be… They can also serve as a coverup, they can misdirect us… Photographs reveal and conceal, serve as [both] exposé and coverup".^[1]