When making a feature-length
documentary (especially one on a subject in constant
flux, such as this one), the
director(s) usually do not have the
luxury of working from any kind of
script. Therefore, it falls to the
film editor to “find the
story”—to shape the overall structure of the
material as well as the pacing of scenes, until the movie, as
perdedor says, “flows together extremely well.”
This film was edited by Sam Pollard, who I was lucky enough to have as a professor at NYU. Since I did receive a lecture on the subject, I don’t feel this node is complete without the recognition of Sam’s sizable contribution: deciding what goes where, or rather, when. No disrespect to perdedor’s comprehensive writeup should be inferred.