Gore Vidal: The United States of Amnesia (2013)

Director: Nicholas D. Wrathall

Composer: Ian Honeyman

Starring: Gore Vidal, William F. Buckley, Thomas Gore, Christopher Hitchens, Bill Maher, David Mamet, Jay Parini, Tim Robbins, Robert Scheer, Nina Straight, Eugene L. Vidal, Joanne Woodward

More info: IMDb

Tagline: "The United States Was Founded By The Brightest People In The Country - And We Haven't Seen Them Since."

Plot: This is an unashamedly opinionated film. In Gore Vidal's America, the political coup has already happened. The right have triumphed and the human values of the liberals have been consigned to history. But how did this happen and who organized it? In this film Gore Vidal's acerbic, opinionated and informed approach rips away at the facade of the new America. The film dramatizes Gore's political views and his concern at the present state of American democracy using interviews and historical footage of his famous appearances on television and talk shows over the last fifty years. In the recently filmed interviews Gore examines the course of American history and policy making and draws dramatic conclusions on the fate of the nation in the modern age.

My rating: 8.5/10

Will I watch it again? Yes.

I love this guy. He's one of those brilliant types that you'd want to hang out with all the time just to hear what he has to say about anything and everything.  He's clever, witty, so very eloquent and funny as shit.  His words could be scathing yet sound like poetry and he could insult you in a way that gets to the core and probably in such a way that you wouldn't suspect it. This film captured him shortly before his death.  There are also loads of vintage clips and interviews.  The film paints a positive picture on the man and his legacy. I don't know if there was every any major controversy surrounding the man but it doesn't matter.  I was so taken in by him that I'm very keen on reading his work which is saying something as I read very little but watch an incredible amount of film.  I highly recommend this.  It's currently streaming on Netflix.  Hopefully the eventual DVD/Blu-ray release will have loads of extras.  If so then it will find a permanent home in my collection.