Stephen Bannon is the subject of the documentary “American Dharma.” Utopia/Topic
In 2003, the documentary filmmaker Errol Morris made “The Fog of War,” a masterful portrait of former defense secretary Robert McNamara in which McNamara’s singular combination of protective justification and self-awareness created a fascinating, densely layered psychological profile. Morris used the same strategy to less edifying effect in “The Unknown Known,” about Donald Rumsfeld. Now, with “American Dharma,” the format has reached the rock bottom of diminishing returns.
In this ambitious, frustrating and finally toothless film, Morris sets out to interrogate Stephen Bannon, one of President Donald Trump’s most notorious advisers and, not incidentally, a filmmaker himself. Using clips from Bannon favorites such as “Twelve O’Clock High,” “The Searchers” and Orson Welles’s “Chimes at Midnight,” Morris seeks to create a grand unified theory of Bannon’s psyche, leading him in a wide-ranging conversation about his philosophical evolution from a “touchy-feely” liberal to right-wing culture warrior.
When “American Dharma” made its North American debut at Toronto two years ago, Morris insisted that his aim was to “understand our enemy.” But in the absence of genuinely probing questions or intellectually vigorous pushback, the film winds up letting Bannon run out the clock, flattered by Morris’s attention – Bannon tells Morris that “The Fog of War” inspired him to make documentaries – and increasingly delighted when he realizes his interlocutor isn’t laying a glove on him. (For a fair, engrossing and entertaining depiction of Bannon and his agenda, watch Alison Klayman’s far more effective “The Brink.”)
“American Dharma’s” final image might be the most revealing moment in a film that turns out to be a dual portrait of two men equally entranced with the spectacle of dazzling self-belief. R. Available on Topic. Contains strong language and some sexual material. 97 minutes.
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Sue Googe, a North Carolina Republican who made an unsuccessful run for a congressional seat, is featured in “First Vote.” C35 Films
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In “The Soul of America,” a documentary based on Jon Meacham’s 2018 bestseller of the same name, the writer, journalist, Pulitzer Prize-winning historian and presidential biographer offers insights into America’s present by examining its past. TV-PG. Available on HBO. 77 minutes.
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Jaeden Martell in “The True Adventures of Wolfboy.” Vertical Entertainment
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