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In “Separated,” tragic Trump politics meets one of America’s toughest filmmakers

Errol Morris has made documentaries about some of the most important figures in American politics, from Robert S. McNamara (The fog of war) To Donald Rumsfeld (The Unknown Known) until recently Steve Bannon (American Dharma). He has dealt with global conflict, biological warfare and the horrific images and stories from Abu Ghraib. But when you hear the Oscar-winning filmmaker talk about his new film, Separated (premiered Thursday at the Venice International Film Festival), one senses a special emotional connection to the material. “I find it hard not to believe that this policy was motivated by meanness,” he says of the subject matter the film deals with. “There is no pragmatic element to it at all.”

Separated examines the origins, effects and consequences of family separation policies that were implemented during Donald TrumpPresidency. To enforce this extreme measure of immigration control, Morris explains, “parents were forced to betray their children.” The film – a co-production of NBC News Studios, Participant, Fourth Floor and Moxie Pictures – presents interviews with figures closely associated with the policy, both those who regret it and those who seemingly do not. It contains uncovered emails and documents that detail, with frightening clarity, how such a policy came about. A book of the same name by Jacob Soboroff, a political and national correspondent for NBC News, helps form the backbone of the film.

Morris first tweeted shortly after Soboroff's book was published. Soboroff then reached out to Participant Media's Diane Weyermann (who died in 2021) in hopes of getting in touch with Morris; she suggested calling the director directly, which Soboroff did. “I said, 'I'm not asking you to make a movie, but if I ever did, would you have any advice?'” Soboroff recalls. “Errol said something like, 'Would you like to make a movie?' And I said, 'Yes.'” More specifically, Morris says, “I remember Jacob asking if I knew anyone who wanted to make a movie out of the book—and I suggested myself.”

The power of the book lies in Soboroff's reportage. He heard Trump's advisers for the first time Stephen Miller During the 2016 presidential campaign, Soboroff casually floated family separation as an idea, with little understanding of what the idea meant. But when Soboroff began investigating what was actually happening at the border after Trump's victory — images of children in cages with no idea where their parents were — he tackled the issue with a vengeance, examining how more than 5,000 migrant families were forcibly separated at the border. “I wrote the book because I didn't understand how the U.S. government could impose such a horrific policy, how it was allowed and how it was implemented — I was looking for those answers,” Soboroff says.

Morris handles this issue in a unique way. The policy has somewhat faded from view, even if its consequences are far from clear. Unfortunately, it is back in the spotlight, as the idea of ​​another Trump administration reviving family separation has overshadowed the 2024 election campaign.

According to recent estimates, more than 1,000 children remain separated from their families, even though Trump ended the policy under enormous public pressure long before the end of his term. “I thought the policy was ludicrous and that something should be said about it,” Morris says. “The problems that these policies create are still there, and the draconian attempts to solve them are still there.”

Morris knows how to get under the skin of his interviewee. He is a persistent, passionate and clever interviewer who finds the cinematic in the confessional. But he is not always aware when his methods are successful. A typical example: his interviews for Separated with Scott Lloyd, who was director of the Office of Refugee Resettlement during the policy's run. In the film, they are captivating in their opacity. Lloyd seems completely unmoved and unable to come to terms with his role in the family separation. He admits to Morris that even he was surprised by his attitude. (“His most important qualification was [that] he was against abortion,” jokes Morris.) Lloyd’s silence, painfully captured on camera, is the core of Separated's argument.

But in that moment? “When I did the interview, I was absolutely convinced that it was the worst interview I'd ever done – a really, really abominable attempt to interview another person,” Morris says. “When it was edited, it turned out to be – I don't want to say surprisingly good; that's not quite right. But surprisingly insightful.”

Lloyd is one of several officials who Separated who were given responsibilities that did not match their qualifications. The film's portrayal of these personnel decisions is morally outrageous, given the profound impact they have on people's real lives.”[They] “People had limited experience, limited skills and limited interests,” Morris says. “You'd like to think that public figures have some idea of ​​what they're doing and what their responsibilities are.” Morris also speaks to ORR employees, who, in contrast, openly express regret and outrage at what they had to be a part of.

This is Morris at his best, even if the film is imbued with political urgency: “I'm really fascinated by what people really think – what were they thinking? Did they understand, or were they deliberately hiding the damage they were doing?”

He comes to some remarkable conclusions in Separated but inevitably did not get as far as he had hoped. Trump's head of the US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) during the family separation policy, Thomas Homan, is considered one of the “founding fathers,” as Soboroff puts it. Morris almost interviewed him. “We were shooting at the studio south of Boston, and he made the hour-long drive there,” Morris says. “He came to the studio and then declined an interview, which is a new thing for me… to sit in a room waiting to be interviewed and refuse to ever go on camera.”

While this near-interview is not part of the film, it is indicative of Morris's line of questioning. “I don't want to exaggerate, but it's a study of a certain kind of fascism, and I never know if people are lying or lying to themselves,” Morris says. Soboroff, the film's executive producer, agrees, framing the politics in the sobering words of a reporter who has spent nearly a decade covering the subject. “This is truly one of the most shameful chapters in modern American history.”

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