The Brink Review
R: Language
Magnolia Pictures
1 Hr and 30 Minutes
Dir: Alison Klayman
Cast: Steve Bannon
When Steve Bannon left his position as White House chief strategist less than a week after the Charlottesville "Unite the Right" rally in August 2017, he was already a notorious figure in Trump’s inner circle, and for bringing a far-right ideology into the highest echelons of American politics. Unconstrained by an official post — though some say he still has a direct line to the White House — he became free to peddle influence as a perceived kingmaker, turning his controversial brand of nationalism into a global movement. THE BRINK follows Bannon through the 2018 mid-term elections in the United States, shedding light on his efforts to mobilize and unify far-right parties in order to win seats in the May 2019 European Parliamentary elections. To maintain his power and influence, the former Goldman Sachs banker and media investor reinvents himself — as he has many times before — this time as the self-appointed leader of a global populist movement. Keen manipulator of the press and gifted self-promoter, Bannon continues to draw headlines and protests wherever he goes, feeding the powerful myth on which his survival relies.
Someone actually made a documentary about… former White House senior strategist Steve Bannon.
Yup, documentarian Alison Klayman shadowed Bannon for a year as she was granted access to film him for this portrait project. Given to any other person, they would’ve made the film blatantly either leftist or rightist as it would depict Bannon as a villain or a hero. What I love about Klayman is how she lets the footage captured of Bannon speak for itself. It’s pretty much objective as Klayman lets Bannon express who he truly is: an idiot. He’s an entertaining idiot full of ambivalence who is genuinely funny at times, but an idiot nonetheless. Set after his strategist days around 2017 to late 2018, you’re just thrown into The Brink of insanity (see what I did there?) that is the alt-right and it is a very bizarre world. Throughout all of this, Klayman’s footage acts as the audience’s avatar as we follow and witness Bannon’s journey for relevancy in the republican world after being stripped of everything, including his position in the White House, his position at Breitbart, and his dignity, across the world as he adds his name to terrible policies set to screw people.
You can’t fault the film for how long we spend with Bannon and how much we hate him, but all you can do is analyze his psyche. The places Klayman travels to with Bannon are boldly revealing as she gets clearance for areas you wouldn’t even expect. Personally, I was shocked by how many areas of the far-right reside in New York City. AND THERE ARE MULTIPLE AREAS! You just get this ambiance of uneasiness watching Bannon deliver speeches and create propagandist content to convert people. Hell, there are sequences that display how Bannon is just one of the many terrible pawns, for there are worse leaders and representatives in European countries.
What I do love about Klayman’s direction is how much input she provides when Bannon contradicts himself. Attesting to my statement about her footage being the audience’s avatar, you hear Klayman behind the camera ask the same questions you ask yourself as Bannon does something jarring. There are humorous moments of how fast and inconsistent his actions are and Klayman brings a bit of that comic levity in the editing as well.
While The Brink provides very revealing and bold footage of the far-right across the world, I never found much of the film that enticing. Bannon is an interesting figure, but a little bit of him really does go a long way. Outside the entire series of events centered on Bannon making a Trump propaganda film (which happens during the second half of the movie) I wasn’t that much into it. I’m glad Klayman didn’t normalize him with her footage and I love how it concludes. That being said, the movie is paced a bit too slow for me and needed a bit more energy to keep this very interesting journey a bit more engaging.
The events of The Brink collide with the events of the 2018 midterms and honestly, while viewing this I thought, “Man, this would be such a fun double feature with Knock Down the House.” Think of it as watching (I know this is a stretch) Star Wars. You have the origin story of the change to politics through AOC (Jedi) and you have the journey of this moderately powerful figure maintaining that power in society and the world (The Dark Side). This is the dark side. Obviously. Together back-to-back you get the bigger picture of A NEW HOPE coming to America in these dark times we live in today.
Depicting this figure without taking any stances but making him observational for her audience, The Brink is a well-made portrait that will entertain and enlighten viewers interested in the current state of politics.
Rating: 3/5 | 61%
