Fans of Chris Smith (American Movie, The Yes Men) can look forward to the indie director’s upcoming release, Collapse. In it, Smith gives the Errol Morris treatment to Michael Ruppert, the one-time cop turned investigative journalist.
Here’s what Apple’s Trailer site has to say about Collapse which, curiously, is listed as both a documentary and a horror film (but then again, if you know about Ruppert, maybe it’s not so curious at all):
Americans generally like to hear good news. They like to believe that a new President will right old wrongs, that clean energy will replace dirty oil, and that fresh thinking will set the economy straight. American pundits tend to restrain their pessimism and to hope for the best. But is anyone prepared for the worst? Michael Ruppert is a different kind of American. He predicted the current financial crisis in his self-published newsletter ?¢‚Ǩ?ìFrom the Wilderness?¢‚Ǩ¬ù at a time when most Wall Street and Washington analysts were still in denial.
Sitting in a room that looks like a bunker, Ruppert recounts his career as a radical thinker and spells out the crises he sees ahead. He draws upon the same news reports and data available to any Internet user, but he applies a unique interpretation. He is especially passionate over the issue of ?¢‚Ǩ?ìpeak oil,?¢‚Ǩ¬ù the concern raised by scientists since the 1970s that the world will eventually run out of fossil fuel. While other experts debate this issue in measured tones, Ruppert doesn?¢‚Ǩ‚Ñ¢t hold back at sounding an alarm. He portrays a future that resembles apocalyptic science fiction. Listening to his rapid flow of opinions, the viewer is likely to question some of the rhetoric as paranoid or deluded; and to sway back and forth on what to make of the extremism. Smith lets viewers form their own judgments.
The Collapse trailer follows below:
See also: Collapse: the Variety review
