Collapse (Sunday, November 29, 2009) (178)

Collapse is a very interesting and clever documentary by filmmaker Chris Smith about professional gadfly Michael Ruppert. To say that Ruppert is a conspiracy theorist is to miss the point. He thinks that everything in the world is screwed up and has a critical comment on just about every aspect of foreign, energy and economic policy. He is mostly an autodidact, having been an LAPD officer for many years working with the DEA and CIA on drug trafficking. Ever since the early part of this decade, he has been an avid reader of all sorts of journals and published a newsletter on all of his theories.

The film is simply a long and interesting interview with him getting his opinions on a wide variety of topics. Smith uses a very "Errol Morris" style where he shows Ruppert seated and talking with cut-aways to found-footage from old newsreels, cartoons and propaganda films. This feels very much like it could have been made as a chapter in Morris' First Person television series.

Ruppert's basic theory of the universe is that you should not trust government because the it lies and deceives in order to make more money for rich business interests. He says that renewable energy sources are over-hyped as they are either entirely inefficient, not thoroughly thought through or rely too much on a fossil fuel infrastructure. He says we should face the fact that we use oil and will need to remain on oil for a long time to come. He advocates that we are past the point at which we've used up most of the planet's oil reserves, so he foresees the collapse of the world population in the years to come. All of this is rather bleak and sober - but very interesting and hard to argue with.

The style is very nice and effective, with Ruppert at the center of the story, and keeping us interested along the way with all the interesting footage. The score, by Didier Leplae, Joe Wong and Noisola (all three!) is certainly inspired by many of the Philip Glass works composed for earlier Morris works such as The Thin Blue Line, A Brief History of Time.

I like that Smith, in true Morris fashion, does not judge the subject and just lets him speak for himself. It is up to us, as viewers, to make an opinion about Ruppert. Is he full of crap or the smartest guy in the room? Is he a conspiracy theorist or does he really see the plain, unvarnished truth? Should we listen to him or just blow him off as a wacko? It's fun and very interesting.

Stars: 2.5 of 4