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Connections, in both directions
Crash (2005)
Directed by Paul Haggis
influenced Going Clear: Scientology and the Prison of Belief (2015)
The former Scientologist and Oscar-winning filmmaker of Crash was famously profiled in 2011 for The New Yorker by Wright.
For those not attuned to past reports, “Going Clear” offers a compelling indictment through the words of former, long-time adherents, including the church’s former second-in-command, Marty Rathbun; former church spokesman Mike Rinder and former John Travolta handler Spanky Taylor as well as actor Jason Beghe (“Chicago P.D.”) and writer/director Paul Haggis (“Crash”).
The cast of talking heads in Going Clear consists primarily of former members who voluntarily left the church, from the recognizable television actor Jason Beghe, to Oscar-winning screenwriter/director Paul Haggis (Crash), to once-prominent Scientology leaders Mike Rinder and Marty Rathbun.
Some are alumni of Wright’s book, like the disarming Sylvia “Spanky” Taylor, a longtime worker at Scientology Hollywood “Celebrity Center” (where she was appointed John Travolta ’s personal handler), and “Crash” director Paul Haggis , who made waves when he renounced the church in 2009.
Zero Dark Thirty (2012)
Directed by Kathryn Bigelow
influenced by Taxi to the Dark Side (2008)
Themes
Nor does it deny that it was used by the US under the double-speak terminology of ‘enhanced interrogation techniques’ and as Alex Gibney demonstrated in his 2007 documentary Taxi to the Dark Side, never officially sanctioned but ambiguously endorsed to prevent anybody too important ever being held accountable.
In an article in Salon , documentary filmmaker Alex Gibney -- whose great "Taxi to the Dark Side" (2007) examined U.S. "War on Terror" torture practices in great detail -- wrote that "Zero Dark Thirty" is "reckless" and "indefensible."
The other narrative is from political commentators like The New Yorker’s Jane Mayer (author of the 2008 book The Dark Side, on the legal justifications and possible criminality of the Central Intelligence Agency’s interrogation techniques), Academy Award-winning documentary filmmaker Alex Gibney, who made Taxi to the Dark Side, and CNN’s Peter Bergen, who wrote Manhunt: The Ten Year Search for Bin Laden from 9/11 to Abbottabad.
Margin Call (2011)
Directed by J.C. Chandor
influenced by Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room (2005)
Themes
But though we’re still down and out, at least we’re filthy rich in films: from features such as John Wells’ The Company Men, Oliver Stone’s Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps and Jason Reitman’s Up in the Air to documentaries such as Charles Ferguson’s Inside Job, Michael Moore’s Capitalism: A Love Story and Alex Gibney’s Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room.
Unlike recent documentaries on the subject (Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room and Inside Job, to name two), there’s no attempt to paint a perfectly clear picture.
The Big Short (2015)
Directed by Adam McKay
influenced by Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room (2005)
Themes
The unnecessary After School Special moralizing is jarring and obvious, robbing it of the slickness of films like "Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room" and "The Wolf of Wall Street," which drive home the same points without breaking their breathless flow.
First we got the tragedy - teary documentaries like "Taxi to the Dark Side" and "The Tillman Story."