Few documentary filmmakers have the visual sense or true gift for storytelling that the legendary Errol Morris wields like a cinematic scepter. All of his documentaries - from the classic The Thin Blue Line, which got an innocent man off Death Row, through to more recent efforts like The Fog Of War and Mr. Death: The Rise And Fall Of Fred A. Leuchter Jr. - have the look and feel of complete, beautifully crafted films. Boasting inventive cinematography and highly evocative scores, they rate as true cinematic experiences. While many documentary filmmakers are principally happy to get their point across, Errol Morris makes finely etched art out of celluloid.

With his latest film, Morris works his visual wonders once again, but this time tackles a subject ripped freshly from the front page. Using his trademark interviewing device The Interrotron (a modified teleprompter which allows Morris to project his image on a monitor placed directly over the camera's lens, allowing interviewees to address Morris' image on the monitor while looking directly at the camera, which lets Morris and the audience achieve eye contact with them), Morris gets inside the hearts and minds of some of the American soldiers responsible for the now well-documented horrors of Abu Ghraib Prison in Iraq.

With no interest in hanging these people out to dry, Morris instead quietly indicts the whole US Army and the government that commands it. As this film suggests, the photos taken at Abu Ghraib are just the tip of the iceberg, and the army's due diligence in scapegoating its lowly soldiers and sweeping the whole incident under the rug speaks of a major conspiracy. Morris also questions the entire notion of documentation and photographic evidence. Standard Operating Procedure is a tough, intellectually demanding film, but it's also one of stark beauty, with composer Danny Elfman and cinematographer Robert Richardson combining to create a series of stunning sounds and images. The result is a documentary of rare power, and another triumph for Errol Morris.