Collapse (2009)

The solo interview documentary—the style that Errol Morris has mastered—is yet a tough sell for an audience. After all, it's basically a conversation of around an hour (or more). So it relies primarily on a compelling interview subject, and the visual variety that thoughtful editing can provide. Morris has nailed that more than once, but his interview with former U.S. Secretary of Defense Robert MacNamara (The Fog of War) stands out as one of the great exemplars of how it should be done.

Morris had nothing to do with Chris Smith's new documentary, Collapse. But it's every bit as compelling as Morris at his best, and I'm a big fan of Errol Morris. Of course, Smith is a terrific documentarian in his own right, responsible for the delightful Home Movie (2001) and The Yes Men (2003).

Smith's subject is Michael Ruppert, as colorful and engaging a researcher as anyone else out there—but, as with many conspiracy theorists, a troubling person to consider. A former LAPD beat officer and detective, Ruppert left the force after what he describes as his discovery of the CIA's hand in the city's drug trade, up to and including the crack wars of the 1980s. From there, Ruppert—the son of a CIA officer-father and decryption-analyst mother—pursued a career as an investigative journalist, working with Sacramento Bee reporter Gary Webb to uncover the CIA's doings in Los Angeles.

Ruppert's overarching thesis, based on decades of research into disparate topics (CIA involvement in fueling the Los Angeles drug markets in the '70s and '80s; peak oil; threats to food and water supplies; etc.), is that we are reaching a point where we can no longer sustain our complex economic system, and our ability to supply basic needs of our populations is in growing jeopardy. Where will all this lead? To the situation aptly described by the film's title.

A heavy smoker, Ruppert carefully considers and answers Smith's questions (which are often challenging; no softballs here, that I could hear, at least) with a suitably dour tone, at some points letting his emotions get the better of him. He is no dry, passionate analyst; he feels the weight of his own words. But ... he is also possessed of a very bleak outlook, one that allows little or no room for the ingenuity that has, in the past, forestalled or rendered obsolete all previous predictions of disaster on planet earth. Ruppert is a very bright man, and he's done a mountain of research on this subject, but he has apparently rejected other possibilities for how shortages may be averted in the future. He's right that oil, if it is in fact biotic, is finite, and as all peak oil advocates maintain, we will soon or may have already hit the peak of production. Certainly there is troubling evidence that Saudi Arabia's production is dropping, underscored by that nation's move to drill offshore.

Moreover, looking into Ruppert on the Internet will yield a widely divergent set of opinions on the man and his work. His former employees certainly bear him no fondness, and some of his accusations of conspiracies to discredit him seem far-fetched, at best. In Collapse, he seems a desperate man; we're informed at the end that he's out of money and on the verge of eviction from his rental home in Culver City, Calif. In other recent presentations, however, Ruppert seems to be doing fine. Which is true? Maybe it depends on when you ask? Hard to say.

So, what you make of Ruppert's ideas and concerns will depend on how compelling you find his arguments; regardless, of course, take it all with at least a grain of salt. But however you come down on the issues that concern Michael Ruppert, you should see this documentary. Collapse is nothing if not utterly provocative, as fascinating as its subject is.