Op-Docs (TV Series) The Umbrella Man (2011) User Reviews

A lovable short!

[miller-632-830180 · 8/10 · 25 May 2016]

This is a short documentary whose simplicity is its best characteristic. Within six minutes, Errol Morris exposes a particular point of view -maybe his own- about how simple common life is. By introducing different theories around the JFK assassination, and especially the "umbrella man" case, neither a story nor a fact is presented. Something more interesting -and charming, one can say- is shown: that conspiracy speculations are not less absurd than simple explanations. And the latter are, maybe, more persuasive.

Perhaps behind a weird act occurred during an extraordinary event -like one of the most commented murders in the 21st Century history- there is no more than a nice and ordinary justification. Is that explanation true? We don't know, but we can acknowledge that, at least, it is not less plausible than a conspiracy.

Sinister Theories

[Michael_Elliott · 19 March 2015]

The Umbrella Man (2011)

*** 1/2 (out of 4)

Errol Morris documentary about the mysterious "man under the umbrella" who can be seen seconds before President Kennedy was assassinated on November, 22, 1963. This documentary features an interview with Josiah Thompson who wrote "6 Seconds in Dallas." This short runs just under six-minutes and is actually pretty funny in a rather dark way because there's been all sorts of conspiracy theories about who the actual Umbrella Man was and if he had anything to do with the assassination. There's even some theories that he fired the fatal shot to Kennedy. Morris tells this story in such a charming way that you almost forget that you're watching something dealing with a serious subject matter. In fact, the light-hearted nature to the picture pays off in the end when we find out who the Umbrella Man was and why he was there.

Compactly Powerful.

[lbenot · 10/10 · 27 July 2017]

Based on the strange therefore suspicious oddity of a man holding an open umbrella noticed in the background of the J.F. Kennedy assassination film footage, this wonderfully edited and delightfully short documentary features a speaker who succinctly describes, explores, and reveals the oddity's answer, and in so doing creates and concludes this little gem with a powerful philosophical maxim. A must see.

Well made oddity.

[CurtHerzstark · 5 March 2012]

Errol Morris have made some strange documentaries like Mr. Death: The Rise and Fall of Fred A. Leuchter, Jr. (1999)but this film is somewhat stranger and yet in 6 minutes manages to tell something about human nature that few full length documentaries has done in the past.

In the Zapruder film, that depicts the assassination of JFK in November 22, 1963 there appears to be a mystery. A man wearing an umbrella in broad daylight, while the sun is shining.

For years various experts has been trying to find out who this strange man was and why he was holding an umbrella that day even though the sun was shining.

Was he part of a vaster conspiracy to kill JFK, or was this proof of an time traveler from the future? Errol Morris investigates this and finds an answer but in the process gives the audience food for thought about things that can't be explained and thus gives birth to strange theories.

Is Morris right? Who knows but director Henri Verneuil would probably disagree with Morris final conclusion, just watch I... comme Icare/ I as in Icarus(1979.