Review of “Separated”: Errol Morris increases the drama in his story about Trump’s border policy

In the middle of “Separated,” acclaimed documentarian Errol Morris' new film about the Trump administration's policy of separating parents and children attempting to enter the U.S. across the southern border, ACLU attorney Lee Gelernt makes an important point as he discusses his legal challenge to that policy. The strategy, Gelernt told Morris, is to avoid inflammatory words like abuse and torture, however accurate they may have been.

“This is the worst thing I've ever seen in the immigration field,” Gelernt says. “It was better to just tell the stories of these children and let the facts speak for themselves.”

The strategy worked in the courtroom, but Morris himself does not use it in “Separated,” which had its world premiere on Thursday at the Venice International Film Festival.

Of course, Morris tells the story of these children, their parents and the …