The artistic work, be it a novel, poem, film, painting, or other type of expression, is experienced by the viewer. Interpretation follows, and interpretation leads to knowledge. However, the connection between experience and knowledge is not this simple, for the knowledge gained may be flawed by problems of interpretation, failures in the original perception, and also by external and pre-existing attitudes, prejudices, and beliefs which may color perception, interpretation, and understanding. This is true in any art form, but in some it can be a more powerful influence. Film gives the illusion of being real to a much greater degree than the stage or any other dramatic art form, and yet the audience is aware that the film is not real, that it is created, and that there is a point of view behind this act of creation. With a documentary film, however, the audience is more inclined to accept whatever is seen as real and to fail to realize that there is a point of view shaping the material in a certain way. The experience of the film itself gives the viewer the illusion of direct knowledge. What the audience is accepting is determined by the form--the audience knows when a scene in a fiction film has been staged but accepts that a documentary is "real" and not staged, even though it may be. The artifact Truth or Dare (1991) is a hybrid documentary, utilizing different documentary styles and mixing them with the somewhat different tradition of the concert film. However, close examination shows that much of what appears in the experience is questionable as knowledge either because it is staged or because the intelligence shaping what is seen and intentionally working to project an image is that of the central figure, Madonna, the performer rather than the filmmaker. The experience of the film needs to be undertaken with an air of skepticism so interpretation leads to knowledge rather than the point of view the filmmaker is imposing....