Calgary's Fast Forward Weekly (http://www.ffwdweekly.com/article/screen/film-reviews/society-on-the-verge-4815/)
Society on the verge
Collapse provides a platform for Michael Ruppert’s theories
Published November 19, 2009 by Bryn Evans in Film Reviews
Cop turned independent journalist Michael Ruppert speaks at length about peak oil, the economy and the decline of western civilization in Collapse.
Director Chris Smith (American Movie) introduces his excellent new documentary, Collapse, with a few brief sentences, and it’s a neat hook: while gathering research for a screenplay based on the CIA’s involvement in the ’80s drug wars, he came into contact with former Los Angeles cop and current investigative journalist Michael Ruppert. Though Ruppert had personal involvement with the drug war (he blew the whistle on a major drug trafficking operation involving the U.S. military), he didn’t want to talk about it. Instead, given a platform (and a captive audience in Smith), he wanted to deliver his homegrown treatise on peak oil, economic meltdown and the decline of western civilization.
Though often accused of being a paranoid crank, Ruppert commands some credibility — his self-published journal, From the Wilderness, counts a number of learned and powerful people among its readership and he showed a great deal of prescience in predicting the recent economic collapse. Much of his argument revolves around the idea of peak oil: Once the world is unable to produce more oil than is needed, the declining rate (and rise in cost) will bring about a halt in our economic infrastructure.
While Ruppert’s picture of a Mad Max-styled dystopia is somewhat easy to dismiss, much of what he states is rational and alarming: Oil is an integral part of many of the products we use (everything from paint to toothpaste), and society’s thirst for it is driving us to more extreme and environmentally dangerous solutions, including off-shore drilling and the Alberta oilsands. Additionally, director Smith adds credence to Ruppert’s argument by challenging him at every opportunity on his credentials, his sources and his potential biases.
The film is short, punchy and effective due to Smith’s expert aping of documentarian Errol Morris’s signature style in bringing Ruppert’s strange story to the screen (he even employs an ominous, oboe-tinged score). Ruppert appears as a mysterious figure proselytizing from a hidden bunker, surrounded by darkness. The camera rarely veers from him, except for the occasional use of effective stock footage.
If Collapse were simply a soapbox for Ruppert’s musings, it would remain compelling. However (without revealing any details), Smith inadvertently ends up crafting a story of a much more tragic figure than viewers expect. It isn’t just the ruin of the economy that Collapse is talking about, but the future of those willing to stick their necks out for a sliver of the truth.
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