Continuing in the movie a day challenge, I am going to give my impressions of the new documentary, "Collapse" by Chris Smith. Collapse features former LAPD cop turned investigative reporter, Michael Ruppert and his theories on the direction in which our global society is heading. He comes from a significant intelligence background with both of his parents working in some capacity with the CIA, and in fact since he was a teenager, Ruppert held above top-secret classification within the CIA. He has been following all forms of intelligence for over 30 years and paints a harrowing picture of our future. In its most simplest terms, Ruppert's premise is that when our natural resources eventually run out, our present global pardigm and system will collapse. This seems like a rather obvious statement to make but the film shows that this is way more complex than we imagine. "Collapse" goes into great detail to illustrate how oil lies at the foundation of everything that we do, spend, consume and expend. I think the film does a fantastic job of presenting Ruppert as an outsider character. The singular interview a la Errol Morris is a simple but wildly effective approach to letting the man use his own voice. I don't think there would be any other way to present Ruppert and his theories and capture the essence or danger of what they contain. There is an intensity, passion and sadness to the man that the film succeeds in capturing. The cinematography is beautiful for something that is so straightforward. It looks like an interrogation in a basement that looks like the Saw movies and there is a constant dolly shot that adds a creepiness and threat of danger throughout the piece. I think the film overall is great.
Now to the meat of this thing. I totally buy what Ruppert has to say. You can call me a conspiracy theorist or whatever but the man knows too much and analyzes the information too well for it to be dismissed. I wish I could go into detail but I don't want to ruin the film for those who haven't seen it. I will say that the issue is way more complex than just saying oil rules the world and Ruppert makes that abundantly clear. I do believe that we are running out of the one currency that makes this world go round and I do believe that we have to begin to figure out ways to adapt to this changing world. Collapse has definitely made me re-think a few things and I appreciate when a film can impact me in that way.
Here is the trailer:
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lJ3r93ELuB4&hl=en&fs=1&w=600&h=338]