Collapse

Drew's Thoughts:
Collapse, the latest film by Chris Smith (American Movie), is a 70 something minute discussion with Michael Ruppert, a chain smoking, dog loving, LAPD cop/whistle blower turned investigative journalist who predicted the current economic crisis in his self-published newsletter From the Wilderness. Going in, I have to say, I didn't think a feature length interview would be very interesting (I wasn't a big fan of Fog of War for instance.) Yet this film is actually very fascinating and engaging, due to the content and the director's brisk pacing of the film.
After a bit of back story about how Ruppert tried to expose the corruption facilitating a drug trade operating within the LAPD, Ruppert launches into the many facets of the current collapse discussing peak oil, energy production, food production, war and the financial system among others.
So the big question regarding the film is, is this guy a crackpot? One of the reasons that makes the film good is that the filmmakers aren't totally sure what the answer to that question is either (i.e. they don't exalt him in the way that many docs do to their subjects.) I'd say he's probably a little bit of a crackpot but he has a bevy of interesting and provocative things to say that are worth pondering regardless of whether you totally believe him.
And besides, Ruppert is very passionate about what he says and passionate people are always very engaging and fun to watch. He occasionally drops a few hilarious non-catch phrases like "you got to separate the ice cream from the bullshit."
One of the best docs I've seen this year.