X
- 2019
- R
- Utopia
- 1 h 35 m
- 2019
- R
- Utopia
- 1 h 35 m
Summary A portrait of controversial Breitbart honcho and Donald J. Trump advisor, Stephen K. Bannon.
Directed By: Errol Morris
- 2019
- R
- Utopia
- 1 h 35 m
- 2019
- R
- Utopia
- 1 h 35 m
American Dharma
62
User Score
Available after 4 ratings
tbd
Where to Watch
Summary A portrait of controversial Breitbart honcho and Donald J. Trump advisor, Stephen K. Bannon.
Directed By: Errol Morris
Where to Watch
Top Cast
Metascore
Generally Favorable
Based on 22 Critic Reviews
62
55% Positive
12 Reviews
12 Reviews
45% Mixed
10 Reviews
10 Reviews
0% Negative
0 Reviews
0 Reviews
Metascore
Generally Favorable
Based on 22 Critic Reviews
62
55% Positive
12 Reviews
12 Reviews
45% Mixed
10 Reviews
10 Reviews
0% Negative
0 Reviews
0 Reviews
Morris’s film is less a takedown of its subject, and more a Rorschach test for its viewers. What you’ll see is precisely what you’re primed to see — and that, not Bannon’s ideas themselves, is the point.
There’s a striking similarity in how American Dharma and "Fahrenheit 11/9" end, with the confident prediction that a revolution is coming, if it is not already here. Moore and Bannon are talking about opposite insurgencies, but they both see a country on the verge of explosion. Moore wants to light a match, and Morris wants to snuff one out.
Though this film analysis has its interest, the most involving parts of “American Dharma” are not Bannon expounding on his political philosophy but his postmortem on the nuts and bolts of the successful campaign he helped run against Hillary Clinton.
Does this film say anything liberals and conservatives didn’t already know? Probably not. It does offer a candid, civil, and up-close look at a man championing hard-right (some might say racist) ideals, which is more than viewers get from watching CNN-panel screaming matches and Fox News hagiographies.
Bannon is an intriguing figure, a former liberal who went to Harvard Business School and did a hitch in the Navy. His turn in philosophy is worth exploring. He can undeniably hold attention — American Dharma is not a hard watch.
There are personal fragments of interest here; it’s useful to see how a man like Bannon narrates the story of himself, mythologizes himself, if only for the glimpses of worldview that sneak through in his presentation of the details. But the failure of Morris’s film is that it snuffs so much of that out.
What you see in American Dharma isn’t investigative filmmaking — it’s a toothless bromance.
User Reviews
There are no user reviews yet. Be the first to add a review.
Production Company
Fourth Floor Productions,
Maje Productions,
Storyteller Productions,
Moxie Pictures
Release Date Nov 1, 2019
Duration 1 h 35 m
Rating R
Genres
Awards
Chicago International Film Festival
• 1 Nomination
Indiewire Critics' Poll
• 1 Nomination
