- Collapse (film)
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Collapse 
Theatrical posterDirected by Chris Smith Produced by Chris Smith
Kate NobleStarring Michael Ruppert Music by Didier Leplae
Joe WongCinematography Ed Lachman
Max Malkin
Chris SmithEditing by Barry Poltermann Distributed by Vitagraph Films Release date(s) September 12, 2009 (TIFF) Running time 82 minutes Country United States Language English Collapse, directed by Chris Smith, is an American documentary film exploring the theories, writings and life story of controversial author Michael Ruppert. Collapse premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival in September 2009 to positive reviews.
Ruppert, a former Los Angeles police officer who describes himself as an investigative reporter and radical thinker, has authored books on the events of the September 11 attacks and of energy issues. Critics[who?] call him a conspiracy theorist and an alarmist.
Director Smith interviewed Ruppert over the course of fourteen hours in an interrogation-like setting in an abandoned warehouse basement meat locker near downtown Los Angeles. Ruppert’s interview was shot over five days throughout March and April of 2009. The filmmakers distilled these interviews down to this 82 minute monologue with archival footage interspersed as illustration.
The title refers to Ruppert’s belief that unsustainable energy and financial policies have led to an ongoing collapse of modern industrial civilization.
The film does not overtly take a perspective on the validity of Ruppert’s positions and critics have alternatingly described the film as supportive and as critical of Ruppert’s views. Smith himself, speaking at the Toronto International Film Festival premiere, said that "What I hoped to reveal was ... that his obsession with the collapse of industrial civilization has led to the collapse of his life. In the end, it is a character study about his obsession."[1]
Contents
Synopsis
Sitting in a room that looks like a bunker, Ruppert briefly recounts his life including his parents' ties to U.S. intelligence agencies and Ruppert’s own career as an LAPD beat cop and detective. Ruppert then summarizes current energy and economic issues, focusing mainly around the core concepts of peak oil and sustainable development. He also criticizes fiat money and discusses CIA drug trafficking.
The bulk of the film presents Ruppert making an array of predictions including social unrest, violence, population dislocation and governmental collapses in the United States and throughout the world. He draws on the same news reports and data available to any Internet user, but he applies a unique interpretation -- “connecting the dots” as he calls it.
Smith periodically stops Ruppert to question his assumptions and provide a note of skepticism.
Critical reception
After its premiere at the Toronto Film Festival, Owen Gleiberman of Entertainment Weekly called Collapse “one of the few true buzz films of the festival” and wrote that “you may want to dispute (Ruppert), but more than that you’ll want to hear him, because what he says — right or wrong, prophecy or paranoia — takes up residence in your mind.”[2]
Daily Variety wrote that Collapse was “unnervingly persuasive much of the time, and merely riveting when it's not, Ruppert's talking-head analysis gets the Errol Morris treatment from director Chris Smith (American Movie), whose intellectual horror film ranks as another essential work.”[3]
The Onion’s AV Club wrote that “in several immensely poignant moments, we can also see an angry, lonely, vulnerable man whose life epitomizes the title as much as the globe does. There are many layers to the man and the movie, and I for one left the theater shaken.”[4]
Roger Ebert wrote, "I don't know when I've seen a thriller more frightening. I couldn't tear my eyes from the screen. "Collapse" is even entertaining, in a macabre sense. I think you owe it to yourself to see it."[5]
Distribution
In October 2009 the filmmakers announced that Collapse would premiere simultaneously in theaters in New York and on Video On Demand on November 6, 2009.[6] According to press announcements, this unique release arrangement “will mark the first time a film will be released this soon after it premiered at a festival without distribution.”
References
- ^ "Forbes "Apolcolypse now? Dark visions at Toronto film festival"". 2009-09-14. http://www.forbes.com/feeds/afx/2009/09/14/afx6883061.html. Retrieved 2009-10-20.
- ^ "Entertainment Weekly "Toronto Buzz: 'COLLAPSE showcases gripping pundit of economic doom"". http://movie-critics.ew.com/2009/09/16/toronto-collapse/. Retrieved 2009-10-20.
- ^ Nelson, Rob (2009-09-17). "Daily Variety Review: "Collapse"". http://www.variety.com/review/VE1117941131.html?categoryid=31&cs=1. Retrieved 2009-10-20.
- ^ "The Onion's AV Club "Toronto Film Festival '09: Day 4"". http://www.avclub.com/articles/toronto-film-festival-09-day-4,32832/. Retrieved 2009-10-20.
- ^ "Roger Ebert Movie Reviews "Collapse"". Chicago Sun-Times. http://rogerebert.suntimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20091209/REVIEWS/912099993. Retrieved 2009-12-17.
- ^ "IndieWire "Chris Smith’s “Collapse” Coming Soon"". http://www.indiewire.com/article/chris_smiths_collapse_coming_soon/. Retrieved 2009-10-20.
External links
- Official website
- Collapse at the Internet Movie Database
- Review at Row Three.com
- Review at Globalshift.org
Categories:- 2009 films
- American films
- English-language films
- American documentary films
- Documentary films about peak oil
- 2000s documentary films
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