The Unknown Known (12A)

Directed by Errol Morris

4 Stars

Smirking straight to camera, the former US secretary of state Donald Rumsfeld gives us a demonstration of the art of evasion.

It's the opening shot of Errol Morris's documentary, a follow-up to Fog Of War, which features the then secretary of defence Robert McNamara grappling with his guilt over the Vietnam war.

Not that you will see much of that struggle with conscience here. Rumsfeld concocts his hubristic version of history, deploying semantics straight out of the "Pentagon dictionary" as he does so.

Thus his use of Zen-like utterances about "the unknown known," and his emphasis on the need to use "imagination" rather than simple "intelligence" to expand the US empire.

Throughout Morris provides arresting images, some illustrating the horrors of the war while others - such as a crystal snow ball and letters changing like visual anagrams - make their metaphorical impact.

We're reminded that if the US had been possessed with foresight and vision in 1941 Pearl Harbour could have been avoided by implementing a first strike, a policy that's now de rigueur.

Instead of the image of the US being reactive because of an innate isolationism, it's chillingly clear that it is driven by a "manifest destiny" to rule the world.

It's a fascinating film of the Machiavellian arts, summed up by Rumsfeld's dismissal of Saddam Hussein as stupid. He is more interested in taking on his opposite number Tariq Aziz in a game of intellectual chess.

As he reels off the names of his predecessors, they're portrayed as the hand inside glove-puppet presidents like Ronald Reagan and George Dubya.

Morris doesn't make Rumsfeld crack but he does make him hesitate with the final question: "Why?"

Like a snake, Rumsfeld stares, stalls and then strikes with a mixture of venom and the cowboy clown. "That's a vicious question," he responds smilingly. "I'm darned if I know why." Chilling.