AMERICAN DHARMA is Errol Morris's documentary on Steve Bannon, which was essentially "un-released' for a couple of years after its festival premiere. Find Wikipedia here, IMDB here. Amazon here (includes trailer). Trailer also here. (New Yorker slammed it, here.)
I recently ran across the 2021 American Masters PBS podcast interview with Morris about Bannon and the film, which I really enjoyed, and it sent me back to a second viewing of American Dharma.
- If you have time for one thing on this page, just listen to the podcast.
If you want to appreciate the film, if you're a big fan of Errol Morris, here's my advice:
The film is unusual indeed: Morris recreates the entire sound stage of a 1940's war film, 12 O'Clock High (Gregory Peck), and Morris edits his documentary based on filming days of interviews with Bannon on that strange (faux) movie set. Talk about thinking outside the box.
To really understand American Dharma, you would bring this toolkit to the viewing:
- Watch "Twelve O'Clock High."
- Watch "The Fog of War," Morris's award-winning film about McNamara and Vietnam.
- Both films are referred to closely in the movie. And much of the movie pivots around, returns to, "Twelve O'Clock High."
- Crazy fact; Bannon loved "Fog of War," having seen it at Telluride, and it was one of his motivations to enter politics.
- You would have seen the more conventional movie documentary about Bannon,"The Brink." Review.
- Listen to the American Masters podcast.
- Not necessarily, but helpful, an essay or book about what "the world of the internet" is, such as Virginia Heffernan's "Magic and Loss."
