First Person
S01E07: The Parrot
This documentary is about an unusual murder mystery. Jane Gill is found murdered in her bedroom. Next to the body the police find Max, an African parrot with a highly developed ability to speak, and a vocabulary of 450 words. Max repeated the line "Richard. No, no, no..." over and over again. Gary Grasp is charged with the murder, and his only hope to escape the gas chamber is Max and his testimony.
Overview
First Person was an American TV series produced and directed by Errol Morris. The show engaged a varied group of individuals from civil advocates to criminals.
Interviews were conducted with "The Interrotron", a device similar to a teleprompter: Errol and his subject each sit facing a camera. The image of each person's face is then projected onto a two-way mirror positioned in front of the lens of the other's camera. Instead of looking at a blank lens, then, both Morris and his subject are looking directly at a human face. Morris believes that the machine encourages monologue in the interview process, while also encouraging the interviewees to "express themselves to camera".
Episodes
S01E02 Eyeball to Eyeball
S01E03 Stairway to Heaven
S01E04 The Killer Inside Me
S01E05 I Dismember Mama
S01E06 The Stalker
S01E07 The Parrot
S01E08 Smiling in a Jar
S01E09 In the Kingdom of the Unabomber
S01E10 The Little Gray Man
S01E11 You're Soaking In It
Cast
