Alex Gibney Movies

Oscar-winning documentary filmmaker Alex Gibney (Taxi to the Dark Side, Client 9: The Rise and Fall of Eliot Spitzer) investigates a shocking tale of clerical sexual abuse in a Catholic school for deaf children, and exposes the conspiracy of silence within the Vatican to protect the offending priest from being prosecuted for his heinous crimes. As four former abuse victims summon the courage to speak out about the sexual crimes perpetrated against them by the very priest to whom they confessed their sins, we are presented with the facts of the official investigation, and learn how all allegations of pedophilia within the church ended up being overseen by Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger (now Pope Benedict XVI), who continually acted to protect the Catholic church rather than the innocents whose lives were being destroyed by its clerics. ~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi

Acclaimed documentarian Alex Gibney (Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room) takes the reins for this no-holds-barred look at one of the most unusual phenomena of early 21st century media. In 2006, an Iceland-based outfit called The Sunshine Press launched the website WikiLeaks.org. As run by Australian Internet activist Julian Assange, the site's mandate involved regularly publishing top-secret documents and covert information, often regarding governments and their respective military operations. As might be expected, this set off a firestorm between those who admired the organization's bravado and resourcefulness, and those who argued, not unjustly, that the dissemination of data regarding such events as the U.S. war in Afghanistan could put untold numbers of lives at risk. In We Steal Secrets, Gibney relays the story of the WikiLeaks website from the inside, and moves beyond black and white to penetrate a complex network of activity guided by courage and idealism but also allegedly guilty of ethical insensitivity and hypocrisy. ~ Nathan Southern, Rovi

Bad luck tends to follow the Chicago Cubs like it's the team's mascot, but even longtime fans had a hard time swallowing what happened on October 4, 2003. The Cubs made it to the National League playoffs, and were leading the Florida Marlins 3 to 0 in the sixth game of the series. The Marlins were up three games, but a win for the Cubs would have tied the series and put them one game away from a pennant victory for the first time in 48 years. However, while left fielder Moises Alou was jumping to catch a foul ball in the eighth inning, a fan in the stands, Steve Bartman, tried to catch it without seeing Alou, and accidentally knocked the ball from his glove. The play threw the game into the Marlins favor, and they gained a second wind, scoring eight runs and walking away with the pennant. Bartman immediately became the most hated man in Chicago and was belittled for costing the Cubs the World Series, even though a close look at the game reveals he was hardly the villain of the piece. Filmmaker Alex Gibney examines the facts and the legend behind Steve Bartman's infamous catch, as well as the nature of sports fans who demand a scapegoat, in the documentary Catching Hell, which also explores a similarly embarrassing moment in the history of Gibney's favorite team, the Boston Red Sox. Produced for the ESPN cable network, Catching Hell received its world premiere at the 2011 Tribeca Film Festival. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi

In 1964, Ken Kesey was an author who had published two popular and critically acclaimed novels, One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest and Sometimes a Great Notion. At the same time, Kesey also had a strong bohemian streak and in the late '50s had been a volunteer in a research experiment sponsored by the United States military on the effects of an unusual new drug called LSD. Kesey came to believe the LSD experience had the power to reshape America's psychological and spiritual landscape, and he continued using it with a handful of trusted friends and colleagues. In 1964, Kesey and several of his fellow psychedelic explorers -- including Neal Cassady, a close friend of Jack Kerouac who helped inspire the book On the Road -- bought a 1939 International Harvester school bus, fixed it up with bunks, painted it with bright, abstract designs, and set out on a cross-country voyage to explore America and share their new vision with those they met. In time, Kesey and his "Merry Pranksters" were credited with launching the counterculture revolution of the 1960s, and as they traveled from place to place, they documented their adventures on 16 mm film. However, due to sound synchronization problems, the footage was never edited into useable form, but filmmakers Alex Gibney and Alison Ellwood have used this material as the basis for a documentary on the journey of the Pranksters and its cultural influence. Magic Trip: Ken Kesey's Search for a Cool Place explores the history behind Kesey and his group, offers a look at their experiences on the road, and includes footage of some of the friends they encountered en route, including Allen Ginsberg, Jack Kerouac, and a rock band called the Warlocks who would later change their name to the Grateful Dead. Magic Trip received its world premiere at the 2011 Sundance Film Festival. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi

Documentary filmmaker Alex Gibney (Taxi to the Dark Side, Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room) turns his focus on New York governor Eliot Spitzer, his valiant crusade to hold large financial institutions accountable for their crimes, and his ultimate downfall after enlisting the services of high-priced call girl Ashley Dupre. Unlike many other accounts of the case, which draw primarily from the confessions of Dupre, Client 9 offers a much more detailed overview of Spitzer's incredible rise and fall thanks to the contributions of Peter Elkind, author of Rough Justice: The Rise and Fall of Eliot Spitzer. In addition to landing an interview with the Spitzer himself, Elkind also sat down for a revealing conversation with "Angelina," another woman who spent plenty of time with the ex-governor. A variety of Spitzer's friends, colleagues, and political adversaries also weigh in with their thoughts on the scandal. ~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi

Lobbyists have long played a powerful role in American politics, but it wasn't until Jack Abramoff became the center of a 2006 corruption scandal with ties to leading members of Congress (and even the White House) that many became aware of just how deep and pernicious their influence truly was. The son of a wealthy businessman, Abramoff became a Republican activist in college, involved in programs to raise funds for GOP candidates and supporting political movements in Angola and South Africa that he believed promoted a free-market ideology. In 2001, Abramoff took control of a profitable gaming empire after the murder of casino owner Gus Boulis, while also operating a lobbying business that curried political favor among Republican politicians through money and expensive gifts (one of his leading allies was GOP party whip Tom DeLay). However, when Abramoff was discovered to have defrauded a number of Native American groups hoping to open gambling casinos with promises of political favors that could be obtained for the right price, his empire came crashing to the ground, taking a number of important reputations along with it. Filmmaker Alex Gibney chronicles the rise and fall of Jack Abramoff and the often bizarre story of how his political and financial ambitions took root in the documentary Casino Jack and the United States of Money, which includes interviews with a number of his associates and rare newsreel footage of his early years as a political gadfly. Casino Jack and the United States of Money was an official selection at the 2010 Sundance Film Festival. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi

From the producer of Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room and Who Killed the Electric Car? comes a documentary that takes a critical look at the Bush administration's policy on torture by investigating the death of an Afghan taxi driver who, after being taken into the custody of American soldiers at Bagram Air Force Base, suffered fatal injuries at the hands of U.S. soldiers. In 2002, American soldiers accused an Afghan taxi driver of taking part in a deadly rocket attack. Five days after being handed over to the U.S. military for questioning, the man was found dead -- the victim of a brutal bout of torture and abuse according to the medical examiner who inspected his body. The examiner concluded that the taxi driver's hands had been bound to the ceiling, forcing him to stand for hours on end as his assailants repeatedly -- and relentlessly -- kicked him. Compelled to finally unearth the truth about the mysterious fate of the deceased taxi driver, filmmaker Alex Gibney takes viewers on an illuminating journey from a tiny Afghani village to Guantanamo Bay to Abu Ghraib, and ultimately the White House, to explore why the man who turned up in the morgue wasn't the only victim to fall prey to the Bush administration's controversial foreign policy. By examining the sad fate of the wrongly accused, the toll that the War on Terror has taken on an exhausted United States military, and Justice Department official John Yoo's internal memo concerning interrogation techniques, the filmmakers behind Taxi to the Dark Side encourage viewers to weigh out the issues for themselves, and never accept what's told to them on face value. The film won the Oscar for Best Documentary Feature at the 80th Annual Academy Awards. ~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi

On March 19, 2003, forces from the United States and a handful of allied nations invaded Iraq to remove Saddam Hussein from power. American military leaders expected the conflict to last no more than a few months, and President George W. Bush declared that major military operations were over less than two months later. However, Iraq soon became a dangerous quagmire for American forces, and near the end of 2006, Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld, one of the key architects of America's strategy in Iraq, resigned from office due to public outcry and Bush declared he was "rethinking" his plan of attack in Iraq as the nation sank into civil war, with U.S. troops the frequent targets of attacks on both sides. How and why did America's leaders decide to invade Iraq? How did they formulate a strategy that went so far wrong? And can anything be done to salvage the situation? Filmmaker Charles Ferguson, a former advisor with the Brookings Institution, examines these questions in No End in Sight, a documentary on the War in Iraq which includes interviews with a number of figures involved in the conflict's decision-making process, some speaking on-camera about the war for the first time. No End in Sight was screened in competition at the 2007 Sundance Film Festival. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi

A charming elderly Jewish writer who lives in a state of "permanent confusion" finds his vivid imagination becoming the bane of his existence in director Jan Schütte's adaptation of Nobel Prize-winning author Isaac Bashevis Singer's richly textured short stories. Max Kohn (Otto Tausig) is an Australian émigré whose mind is constantly spinning. He's an accomplished author of short stories who lives in New York City and is so steeped in tradition that he still uses a typewriter. Despite the fact that confirmed bachelor Max has a virtual harem of female admirers, he spends the majority of his free time with worrisome kindred soul Reisele (Rhea Perlman). It's during a trip to speak in nearby Hanover that Max begins editing his latest story -- a mischievous tale of a Miami retiree who embarks on a series of misadventures. Of course, it doesn't take Max long to lose himself in his own creation, and before he knows it, he's mixed up in two feverish romances and an unsolved murder. Upon snapping back to reality, Max begins to feel as if his own written word has begun to manifest itself. A meeting with world-weary former student Rosalie (Barbara Hershey), with whom he shares a mutual attraction, follows, and later while heading to Springfield for yet another speaking engagement Max discovers that he has misplaced his prepared speech. In the aftermath of that and various other mix-ups, Max decides to start writing a new story based on his recent adventures and featuring a protagonist named Harry -- a thinly veiled stand-in for the author himself. ~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi

Filmmaker Chris Payne explores the many factors that played into the ultimate failure of the electric car to catch on with consumers, even as gas prices began to skyrocket, in a thoughtful meditation on the increasingly important role that renewable energy plays in modern society. Introduced as a means of providing an alternative to increasing oil consumption and reducing pollution in 1996, the electric car was an all-but-forgotten memory only a decade later -- but why? Through interviews with consumer advocacy experts, automotive industry experts, and oil industry heavyweights, Payne paints a thought-provoking picture of a culture whose aversion to change and reliance on dwindling resources may be rooted in the financial concerns of a wealthy few, and may also be leading consumers down a troubling path. ~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi

The United States Congress named 2003 the "Year of the Blues" as part of an initiative by several musical education groups to make more Americans aware of the history and heritage of blues music, one of America's most important homegrown art forms. To kick off this celebration of the blues, a special concert was held at New York City's historic Radio City Music Hall, and Lightning in a Bottle documents a memorable evening of music from a star-studded roster of artists. Offering a glimpse at the rehearsals and preparations that went into putting the show together as well as the evening's best performances, Lightning in a Bottle includes appearances by B.B. King, Bonnie Raitt, Steven Tyler and Joe Perry of Aerosmith, Macy Gray, Buddy Guy, Chuck D., Solomon Burke, David Johansen, Jimmie Vaughan and Kim Wilson of the Fabulous Thunderbirds, Alison Krauss, and many more. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi

Part of The Blues documentary film series on PBS, Warming by the Devil's Fire is written and directed by Charles Burnett and narrated by Carl Lumbly. This installment explores the tension between the gospel and the blues through the semi-autobiographic tale of a young boy (played by Nathaniel Lee Jr.) who is kidnapped by his blues-loving Uncle Buddy (Tommy Hicks) right before he's about to be saved. Burnett investigates some of the blues women who defied the church by singing racy songs, like Lucille Bogan, Mamie Smith, Ma Rainey, and Bessie Smith. Includes archival performances by Sister Rosetta Tharpe and Reverend Gary Davis, blues performers who managed to work within the church's jurisdiction. Burnett also discusses his fascination with W.C. Handy and Blind Lemon Jefferson. Warming by the Devil's Fire was originally broadcast by PBS on October 1, 2003. ~ Andrea LeVasseur, Rovi