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The Thin Blue Line (1988)
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Errol Morris revisits the case of Randall Dale Adams by letting testimony expose the weaknesses of apparently settled accounts. Repeated, stylised reconstructions offer versions to examine, rather than recovered pictures of what happened. Philip Glass's score makes that circling inquiry feel increasingly insistent. The older exception remains essential for anyone interested in how documentary form can make certainty unstable; it is an investigation with real consequences beyond the screening room.
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About The Thin Blue Line
One night in November 1976, after his car breaks down on a road outside Dallas, Randall Dale Adams accepts a ride from teenager David Harris. Harris is driving a stolen vehicle and, later that night, when Dallas police officer Robert Wood pulls the car over to check its headlights, he is shot and killed. A jury believes Adams is the killer, but stylized reenactments and interviews with key figures, conflicting testimonies and evidence are presented to argue that Adams was framed by a corrupt justice system, ultimately leading to his exoneration.