When a film you make saves a man's life, that puts it into an altogether different category. This is a picture about what everybody thinks and says happened neglecting to keep in mind a proper assessment of all the facts. People have compared this film to RASHOMON and an half hour television teleplay called THE EYE OF THE BEHOLDER definitely comes to mind, as each one of these pieces deals with the subjectivity of personal perception.But these previous attempts that I mentioned seem heavy handed compared to the simplicity and subtlety of Errol Morris' THE THIN BLUE LINE. The whole project is wrapped in a kind of serendipity and might never of happened as Morris was working on another somewhat related project about a psychiatrist who assisting the prosecutor was credited with getting an alarming number of convicts onto Death Row. He even had the opportunity to interview Randall Adams before adjudicating that he was an incurable murderer and that the death penalty would be best for him. James Grigson was his name and originally Morris meant to do a piece on him; but then he got wind of what was happening to Randall Adams and the rest as they would say is the history of THE THIN BLUE LINE. The reenactments of the murder scene from different angles is artfully done involving documents and common everyday objects. It has independent filmmaker all over it. At its core, there is still a mystery about what actually happened. What Errol Morris does is bring reasonable doubt to center stage. But between Randall Adams, the late night hitchhiker and David Harris the teenage runaway who gives him a ride a night earlier, there swings the pendulum pointing to guilt or innocence for one or the other.The chilling consideration that one cannot ignore is what would have happened to Randall Adams if Errol Morris had not come along. As David Harris idly comments near the end of the story, if it wasn't for bad luck, Adams wouldn't have no luck at all. There is a strange synchronicity to many of the events that are related throughout this story. The sense that 'if this hadn't happened, this would not have happened'. The interviews with various witnesses, some who were there briefly at the scene of the crime and some who knew Adams and Harris before and after, add color and texture to this strange confluence of events. This all transpires to the haunting musical score of Phillip Glass. The ultimate redeeming quality of this film is, of course, that Randall Adams is fully exonerated and goes free. What he does with his newfound freedom is a story for another day. David Harris' activities finally catch up with him and each go their separate ways after their encounters with THE THIN BLUE LINE.

I'm not going to knock the incredible injustice. The story itself is not boring it's just the way they told which was dull, it just put me to sleep. They also repeatedly showed reenactments of the crime. I keep thinking something different is going to happen from the last time they showed it but no. I don't get why they had to keep showing the same thing over and over. Even those telling the story kept repeating what they'd already said. I am sure this could have been made into a 30 minute documentary if everything wasn't repeated. I really struggled to stay awake watching this. I am very surprised it's got such a high rating. The only positive I can say is it will probably make a good movie.

A car thief. A juvenile. Someone hitching a ride. Police on patrol, a routine check. A dead officer, brutally shot - instant murder, on sight. There's bragging about a killing. And a memory gap. A search for a killer. Five witnesses. An unanimous verdict. No doubts whatsoever. A death sentence. Finally: an execution. - These at least are some facts of the case involving Randall Adams and David Harris, who met by chance at a Thanksgiving weekend on their way to Dallas. Components to form a larger picture, a picture that documentary filmmaker Errol Morris chose to redraw when he stumbled upon the case and grew more and more puzzled with its alarmingly unchallenged outcome before court. How does it all fit together, as the stories of the suspects obviously don't match? A private investigator himself at the time, Morris poses the right questions to everyone involved - Adams himself, Harris, the guy he hitched a ride from, the police, various detectives, witnesses, the attorneys. He also illustrates their versions on how the killing happened with contradicting re-enactments, usually a clear no-go for documentaries. Morris didn't know better what was expected of him at the time, but presenting the material cinematically - with close-ups, slow-motion and a haunting score by Phillip Glass - leaves a huge impact. However, except from his editing process, Morris lets the impressions stand as they are before the viewer without commenting himself. The result is intense and involving, spine-tingling, gripping and grizzly, and the last images will leave you shell-shocked and speechless. Criminals always lie, you know. Innocents usually tell the truth. Police should have an inkling in this regard.The riveting story of Randall Adams and David Harris doesn't end with the film. However, your trust in the Texan judiciary system might have reached its limits once you've seen Errol Morris' filmed investigation in the case. Now what about that thin blue line? Between good and evil, citizens and perpetrators? Where is it? Who draws it? Who blurs it? Are the interests of such people the same as yours, the citizen's? It all comes down to the question: Do you feel safe and protected by the law? Think again.

This well-prepared and compelling documentary has one or two moments of brilliance that lift it above the average. The first is the reconstruction of the crime at the centre of the story. A nightmarish, abstracted scene that David Lynch might have created, this drama plays over and over again, never going beyond the perimeter of the camera's widest angle. It not only traps the event in a space but also in time. The second is the editorial care with which the director frames serial offender David Harris - only in the final shot of this man speaking do we see him reach up to scratch his face, revealing his handcuffs.The story itself is a blatant miscarriage of justice (postscripts record Adams' acquittal). The most compelling thing is to watch those involved speak about the event. The belligerent and defensive self-righteousness of bigoted Dallas officers and a self-important judge bloat the screen; the calm equanimity of defence lawyers, detective Sam Kittrell and even Adams himself are as powerful an advocate as the evidence itself. There is very little music but what there is is the stripped down, undulating underscoring of Philip Glass. It's occasionally difficult to make out exactly what's being said given the mix and the nature of the vernacular and accents but that's a minor point for a major document. 7/10