Chris Smith has shown an affinity for outsiders in films like “American Movie” and “The Yes Men.” In “Collapse,” Smith departs stylistically from his past documentaries by interviewing his subject Michael Ruppert in a format that recalls the work of Errol Morris and Spalding Gray. Ruppert, a former Los Angeles police officer turned independent reporter, predicted the current financial crisis in his self-published newsletter at a time when most Wall Street and Washington analysts were still in denial. A character study of the apocalyptic imagination, “Collapse” is a portrait of a man who believes with total conviction that industrial civilization is on the verge of collapse.

Release Date: November 6, 2009 (NY; LA release: Nov. 13)
Studio: Vitagraph Films
Director: Chris Smith
Genre: Documentary
Trailer: Courtesy of Youtube