The Unknown Known
E921357
The Unknown Known is a 2013 documentary film by Errol Morris that explores the career, philosophy, and public statements of former U.S. Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld, particularly regarding the Iraq War.
All labels observed (1)
| Label | Occurrences |
|---|---|
| The Unknown Known canonical | 3 |
How this entity was disambiguated
This entity first appeared as the object of triple T11361494 — resolving that mention is where its identity was fixed. The disambiguator weighed these candidate entities and picked the highlighted one (or “None”, minting a new entity). This is how homonymy is resolved: the same surface form can point to different entities.
NED1
Entity disambiguation (via context triple)
gpt-5-mini-2025-08-07
Target entity: The Unknown Known Context triple: [Errol Morris, notableWork, The Unknown Known]
-
A.
The Best and the Brightest
The Best and the Brightest is a 2010 comedy film about a couple navigating the cutthroat world of elite New York City kindergarten admissions.
-
B.
The Man Who Knew Too Little
The Man Who Knew Too Little is a 1997 comedy film starring Bill Murray as an unsuspecting tourist who is mistaken for a spy during an interactive theater experience gone wrong.
-
C.
The Man Who Knew
The Man Who Knew is a mystery novel by British writer Edgar Wallace, featuring crime, suspense, and intricate plotting typical of his early 20th-century thrillers.
-
D.
Witness to Power
Witness to Power is a political memoir by former Nixon aide John Ehrlichman that offers an insider’s account of the Nixon White House and the Watergate scandal.
-
E.
Duty: Memoirs of a Secretary at War
Duty: Memoirs of a Secretary at War is a political memoir by former U.S. Secretary of Defense Robert M. Gates, offering an insider’s account of American defense and foreign policy during the George W. Bush and Barack Obama administrations.
- F. None of above. chosen
- G. Unsure - the case is ambiguous/there is not enough information to decide.
NED2
Entity disambiguation (via description)
gpt-5-mini-2025-08-07
Target entity: The Unknown Known Target entity description: The Unknown Known is a 2013 documentary film by Errol Morris that explores the career, philosophy, and public statements of former U.S. Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld, particularly regarding the Iraq War.
-
A.
The Best and the Brightest
The Best and the Brightest is a 2010 comedy film about a couple navigating the cutthroat world of elite New York City kindergarten admissions.
-
B.
The Man Who Knew Too Little
The Man Who Knew Too Little is a 1997 comedy film starring Bill Murray as an unsuspecting tourist who is mistaken for a spy during an interactive theater experience gone wrong.
-
C.
The Man Who Knew
The Man Who Knew is a mystery novel by British writer Edgar Wallace, featuring crime, suspense, and intricate plotting typical of his early 20th-century thrillers.
-
D.
Witness to Power
Witness to Power is a political memoir by former Nixon aide John Ehrlichman that offers an insider’s account of the Nixon White House and the Watergate scandal.
-
E.
Duty: Memoirs of a Secretary at War
Duty: Memoirs of a Secretary at War is a political memoir by former U.S. Secretary of Defense Robert M. Gates, offering an insider’s account of American defense and foreign policy during the George W. Bush and Barack Obama administrations.
- F. None of above. chosen
Statements (42)
| Predicate | Object |
|---|---|
| instanceOf |
2013 film
ⓘ
documentary film ⓘ |
| basedOn | Rumsfeld’s internal Pentagon memos ⓘ |
| cinematographyBy | Robert Chappell ⓘ |
| comparesWith |
The Fog of War
ⓘ
linked to:
The Fog of War (2003 film)
|
| countryOfOrigin |
United States
ⓘ
linked to:
United States of America
|
| criticalReception | generally positive reviews ⓘ |
| director | Errol Morris ⓘ |
| distributor | Radius-TWC ⓘ |
| examines |
Rumsfeld’s justifications for the Iraq invasion
ⓘ
the concept of “known knowns, known unknowns, and unknown unknowns” ⓘ |
| explores |
Rumsfeld’s philosophy of knowledge and uncertainty
ⓘ
U.S. decision-making before and during the Iraq War ⓘ |
| features | extended interviews with Donald Rumsfeld ⓘ |
| focusesOn |
Rumsfeld’s public statements and memos
ⓘ
Rumsfeld’s role in the Iraq War ⓘ Rumsfeld’s tenure as U.S. Secretary of Defense ⓘ |
| follows |
The Fog of War as another Errol Morris film about a U.S. Secretary of Defense
ⓘ
linked to:
The Fog of War (2003 film)
|
| genre |
biographical documentary
ⓘ
political documentary ⓘ |
| hasFormat | feature-length film ⓘ |
| hasTheme |
government secrecy
ⓘ
memory and interpretation of history ⓘ political accountability ⓘ |
| language | English ⓘ |
| musicBy | Danny Elfman ⓘ |
| portrays | Rumsfeld’s use of language and rhetoric ⓘ |
| posterTagline | “What you think you know about Donald Rumsfeld is only half the story.” ⓘ |
| premiereEvent | Venice Film Festival ⓘ |
| producer | Errol Morris ⓘ |
| productionCompany |
History Films
ⓘ
Moxie Pictures ⓘ |
| releaseYear | 2013 ⓘ |
| runtime | approximately 103 minutes ⓘ |
| screenwriter | Errol Morris ⓘ |
| starring | Donald Rumsfeld ⓘ |
| subject |
Donald Rumsfeld
ⓘ
Iraq War ⓘ U.S. foreign policy ⓘ United States Department of Defense ⓘ
linked to:
Department of Defense
War on Terror ⓘ
linked to:
Global War on Terrorism
|
| titleDerivedFrom | Rumsfeld’s “unknown knowns” formulation ⓘ |
How these facts were elicited
The pipeline generated the facts above by prompting gpt-5.1 with this entity's name + description and the instruction below.
Instruction
You are a knowledge base construction expert. Given a subject entity and a description of it, return factual statements that you know for the subject as a JSON list of dictionaries(triples), where keys must be "subject", "predicate" and "object". The number of facts may be very high, between 25 to 50 or more, for very popular subjects. For less popular subjects, the number of facts can be very low, like 5 or 10. # Requirements - If you don't know the subject at all, return an empty list. - If the subject is not a named entity, return an empty list. - Include at least one triple where predicate is "instanceOf". - Do not get too wordy. - Separate several objects into multiple triples with one object.
Input
Subject: The Unknown Known Description of subject: The Unknown Known is a 2013 documentary film by Errol Morris that explores the career, philosophy, and public statements of former U.S. Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld, particularly regarding the Iraq War.
Referenced by (3)
Full triples — surface form annotated when it differs from this entity's canonical label.