Doco Short: The Umbrella Man

Fans of detective fiction, conspiracy theories and oddball phenomena in general should watch this cool short documentary clip by Errol Morris (Standard Operating Procedure) about the "Umbrella Man", a seemingly enigmatic figure spotted in the Zapruder footage that filmed JFK's 1963 assassination. It's a segment from a six-hour interview he conducted with Josiah Thompson, the author of the book "Six Seconds in Dallas" which looks extensively at the Zapruder film.

Even though the man is utterly fascinating and chilling the first time we see him (it's a sunny day, open black umbrella, what the hell??), the "mystery" is not so much what's interesting about this doco, but how it illuminates the notion of macro/micro levels of historical research which Thompson talks about, and what Morris describes as "the nature of investigation and evidence" in his statement. I look forward to seeing more.

(This actually kind of reminds of that silly Cellphone Time Traveler case from last year...)