Umbrella Man at JFK assassination

Watch: Powerful Errol Morris Short 'The Umbrella Man' Investigates The Mysterious JFK Assassination Figure

NEWS

BY KEVIN JAGERNAUTH
NOVEMBER 22, 2011 3:42 PM
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Give Errol Morris any topic (the more obscure and bizarre the better), and he'll likely dazzle you with what he can come up with. And as a testament to his powers of narrative force, all the famed documentarian needs is about six minutes to let his latest short, an endeavor for New York Times where he frequently writes, to say more about the JFK assassination than Oliver Stone did in his own three hour movie (which is a still great watch).

"The Umbrella Man" focuses on the lone, mysterious titular figure present in Dealey Plaza that day, who has been the subject of great debate for conspiracy theorists for decades. However, author Josiah "Tink" Thompson, who wrote the book "Six Seconds In Dallas," gives an utterly fascinating breakdown of the surprising truth about who that man was and why he was the only person in Dallas that bright, warm day, walking around with an umbrella.

"You can never on your own think up all the non-sinister, perfectly valid explanations," Thompson explains, and in Morris' typically beautiful way, and aided by a great score, we find out as always, that truth is so much stranger than fiction. This is some pretty great stuff, and the first of what Morris hopes will be a multi-part examination of the assassination (awesome). Watch below, and bear in mind, this is only a small portion of a six-hour interview Morris had with Thompson. Astounding.