GamerTab That was an excellent one.
Vioundon One hour and a half of nothing
Intcatinfo A Masterpiece!
john-16151-90172 So sad and truly heartbreaking to see how even the best of us can be ripped apart and stomped on by our own. We are an inferior species. I will never understand how people can feel good about themselves by dragging others to their graves. We live in a very self centered country and it appears that we will never learn. Every day I see people who seem to gain pleasure and comfort from trying to break people down.
Why do we treat others in a way that none of us would ever wish to be treated?
The reviewers appear to have learned nothing. How do you walk away from this with nothing but criticism for how a documentary should be made?
maxwellsnake24 If the purpose of a documentary is to enlighten via the presentation of unbiased facts than surely james dirschberger's 'honest man : the life of r budd dwyer' is the ultimate anti-documentary.From the choice of interviewees (family members,ex colleagues),reluctance to even acknowledge or go into detail about the incriminating evidence against him and finally the completely partisan title of the finished product,you should be in no doubt what conclusions the film's makers want to you to draw about the case.Having had no preconceptions regarding dwyer's guilt or innocence going into watching this (i was merely interested in the story),i was disappointed by the bull in a china shop approach to proving his innocence. Imagine if 'capturing the friedman's' andrew jarecki's superlative documentary about the friedman abuse case took this same approach from the get go,then we'd have missed out on all the rich insight and thought provoking evidence for and against the accused that the director gleaned from both the interviews and the evidence he had procured and would have been left with a glorified celluloid character reference instead. As such 'honest man' is a massively dispiriting misfire that will surely only appeal to those who want quick and easy answers and wont question from whence they came.
Ricardo Villarreal I had the great opportunity to come across "Honest Man: the Life of R. Budd Dwyer", a very well done biographical documentary and a tribute to a man who dedicated his life to serve his state, but who fell victim of political revenge and a disastrous justice system.Although it's very hard to think about Budd Dwyer without thinking of his suicide, this documentary does an incredible job of not exploiting "the scene", guiding the audience to focus on what's really important to understand, which is Budd's life and his story.The composition of the film was brilliant, narrating the story through a combination of powerful interviews with family members, notable archive materials, historic documents, and a very fine touch of artistic elements.This is a great film that is both emotional and informative, and one not to miss.
Geeky Randy James Dirschberger's feature-length debut is an astounding portrait of R. Budd Dwyer, the Pennsylvania State Treasurer who committed suicide during a press conference in 1987. For the last 23 years, Dwyer's final moments have been talked about much more than his productive life; so much that it actually has become somewhat of an internet meme despite the event taking place years before people even knew what the internet was. Just three years ago, if you put Dwyer's name into a search engine, all you'd find were suicide related results. Even now it's somewhat difficult to find a picture of Dwyer without the .357 Magnum revolver in his hand
or, in his mouth.Dirschberger attempts to do the man justice by creating a film that covers more of Dwyer's life than his death. In uncovering Dwyer's life, Dirschberger has brought to light many things that were shadowed during Budd's fight for innocence. The film becomes a tale of an honest man driven to the breaking point.The 75 minute documentary covers a lot of the man's life and also the story behind the guilty verdict. Dwyer upstaged many of his achievements in life by the way he died, but he made us care enough to look deeper behind how and why he was found guilty
and, even prosecuted in the first place. What's most impressive about the film is that it gives Budd a second chance; it looks deeper into the CTA scandal and it doesn't allow the suicide to center around the plot like some sensationalizing news style article.To exclude Budd's suicide would deny the impact the CTA scandal had on him, and to include it in its entirety would make the audience focus too much on his death which has already been done for too long. Dirschberger compensates by including the suicide, but taming it down so Budd's story can appeal to more people than just the gorehounds and the morbidly curious.Interviewees include everyone from family, friends and colleagues to William Smith, the man whose testimony convicted Dwyer. It's a story so controversial and easy to misunderstand; hats off to the crew of "Honest Man: The Life of R. Budd Dwyer" for making all the right moves.**** (out of four)
