American Dharma is a 2018 British-American documentary film directed by Errol Morris. The film follows the career of political strategist Steve Bannon. The film was released on November 1, 2019, by Utopia.
Synopsis
American Dharma consists of a dialogue between documentary subject Steve Bannon and director Errol Morris focusing on Bannon's film-making, time as the executive chairman of Breitbart News, time as the chief executive of Donald Trump's 2016 United States Presidential campaign, time on the United States National Security Council for Trump's administration, and commentary on several films. The documentary is segmented into five sections: The Fog of #war, Honey Badgers, Angry Voices, What Have I Done?, and Go F#ck Yourself. Morris's documentary cuts together footage from Twelve O'Clock High, The Searchers, The Bridge on the River Kwai, The Man Who Shot Libery Valance, Chimes at Midnight, The Candidate, In the Face of Evil: Reagan's War in Word and Deed, Generation Zero, My Darling Clementine, Paths of Glory and audio from The Fog of War: Eleven Lessons from the Life of Robert S. McNamara as Bannon addresses these films’ effects on his perceptions and beliefs. The interview takes place on a set replicating the air-strip and Quonset hut from Twelve O'Clock High and they watch clips from these films on a projector out of frame. The documentary juxtaposes interview footage with related filmography, archival footage, and graphics displaying news headlines during the presidency and candidacy of Trump.
Production
cites his desire to understand the United States 2016 Presidential Election, "So that we can try to make sure it doesn't happen again", as inspiration for the film. The decision to interview Steve Bannon specifically was brought on by the filmmaker's reading of Michael Wolff's Fire and Fury. In an interview with WBUR-FM, Morris says that Bannon "was flattered that I wanted to make a movie about him". The films, including Twelve O'Clock High, The Searchers, The Bridge on the River Kwai, The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance, Chimes at Midnight, etc., served as a way for Morris to avoid Bannon's normal talking points. Morris first heard about Bannon's love of Twelve O'Clock High in Joshua Green's Devil's Bargain. Morris interviewed Bannon for five days between February and April in Boston. 15 to 16 hours of footage was recorded during the interviews. Cut footage from the film made use of Morris's interrotron device, which allows for both first person perspective and eye contact between the interviewer and the subject. Morris decided not to use the interrotron, "very late in the game". During the Lawfare Podcast, Morris sites his fatigue with the use of the interrotron and desire to do something different and more adversarial as reasons for the change. The Quonset hut used as a set for the interview was constructed for American Dharma as a replica of the set in Twelve O'Clock High. The set was constructed on top of an abandoned airfield. According to the director, "He loved walking through the set." The film's penultimate shot, wherein the Quonset hut has burned to the ground, was captured using a drone. Bannon was not dressed by the crew; it was his choice to wear three shirts on set. During the filming, Bannon was reading a book on the Great Wall of China. In post-production, Morris showed Bannon 20 minute cuts of the film, but retained decision making on the final cut. The film was nearly titled "American Carnage" after Donald Trump's inaugural address.
Soundtrack
's soundtrack includes tracks with titles in line with key notes from American Dharma. "Charlottesville" is named after the city in Virginia where the Unite the Right rally occurred in 2017. "American Carnage" is named in reference to Trump's 2016 inauguration speech, wherein the phrase "American Carnage" was employed to describe the United States in an apocalyptic frame. Tracks such as "Andrew Breitbart", "Comey", and "Mueller" denote Andrew Breitbart, James Comey, and Robert Mueller respectively as figures that, while not interviewed by Errol Morris, appear prominently in archival footage. Tracks "Falstaff", "Paradise Lost", and "The Bridge" recall Chimes at Midnight, Paradise Lost, and The Bridge on the River Kwai. Each aforementioned media form appears prominently within the documentary as Steve Bannon discusses his interpretations of these works.
Track listing
American Dharma by Errol Morris
Release
American Dharma premiered at the 75th Venice International Film Festival on September 4, 2018 in the "out of competition" category. Steve Bannon was not present at the premier event in Venice. The film premiered in Canada at the 2018 Toronto International Film Festival on September 9. The United States premiere occurred on September 29, 2018 at the New York Film Festival. American Dharma was subsequently screened alongside a talk given by Errol Morris at the International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam on November 18. In August of 2019, the film was purchased by the distribution company Utopia and slated for a theatrical release on November 1, 2018 at the Film Forum in New York City. The trailer for theatrical release was premiered with outlet IndieWire on September 19. The Film Forum release weekend resulted in a reported $7,522 in revenue. After 10 weeks of release, American Dharma had a box-office revenue of $50,250, and ended the run with a total revenue of $51,891. On January 31, 2019, the film was made available for streaming on Kanopy. Since then, American Dharma has been made available on other streaming and VOD services.
Reception
The review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes gives the film an approval rating of 62%, based on 50 reviews. The website's consensus reads, "American Dharma offers a fascinating glimpse of a political influencer's public persona - and a frustrating missed opportunity to interrogate his actions and stated beliefs." On Metacritic, the film has a score of 62 out of 100, based on 22 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews".
