Errol Morris' First Person - DVD Review

Before Bravo became the network of makeovers and reality challenges, they attempted some interesting, provocative programming. Just before the switch, near the turn of the millennium, they aired 17 episodes over two seasons of a series created and directed by one of the most brilliant filmmakers alive, Errol Morris. If you don't know who Errol Morris is, let go of the mouse and go rent Gates of Heaven, The Thin Blue Line, and the Oscar-winning The Fog of War as a starting set and move to the rest of his career from there. He's arguably the best documentary filmmaker alive and getting another six and a half hours of his work in any form is something to be cherished. Luckily, First Person isn't just a footnote in Morris' career, it's an interesting chapter in itself and should be included in all discussions about his work.

The title, First Person, is pretty self-explanatory - it's a series of 17 half hour interviews with interesting, unusual, real people. Proving that not all reality television needs to be about the sexual habits of models, Morris shows that there are plenty of people out there with incredible stories to tell. From the woman who fell in love with a serial killer (twice!) to the man obsessed with giant squid to the woman who cleans up human remains for a living, Morris proves that there are plenty of interesting people out there with great stories to tell. And Morris knows how to get those stories out. Using a device he invented, also used brilliantly in The Fog of War, called the "Interrotron", Morris can look into his subject's eyes when he interviews them. It opens up his subjects and creates an intimacy between them and the viewer that truly heightens the stakes of an interview. It also makes the viewer feel more a part of the process. This isn't a subject speaking to someone off-camera; he or she is speaking directly to you, sometimes so intensely that it's a little off-putting, but Morris isn't making simple, comfort food reality television.

Morris has made a career of finding out-of-the-way stories and people and turning the light of his camera on them. Giving him a TV series to make that happen seemed like a natural transition. When you're done with the set, which flies by in the blink of an eye, you'll only be sad that there's not more, more of the series and more to the DVD set. A bit of behind-the-scenes info would have been interesting - Did they ever tackle a "First Person" that they had to cut or that didn't come out interesting enough for television? How did they pick their subjects? But Morris doesn't really believe in DVD extras or commentaries, so all we get is the brilliant series itself. Errol Morris proves that maybe Warhol was wrong and interesting people deserve a little more than 15 minutes of fame, with commercials taken out, it looks like 24 was just about right.