Tied for the best movie I have ever seen

Redundant and unnecessary.

A different way of telling a story

There are moments that feel comical, some horrific, and some downright inspiring but the tonal shifts hardly matter as the end results come to a film that's perfect for this time.

Brandon Darby went to help in post-Katrina, and by all reports did a remarkable job, but once his superhero role necessarily evolved into a day-to-day grind of emptying sh** buckets, dealing with tourist activists and literally mending fences, he got bored. He tried to enlist the "real revolutionaries" but is soon disillusioned by them. He drops out. But then he drops back in, this time with the FBI. But it's still Brandon trying to be a superhero, and to do that he needs a few super villains. And so the downward spiral begins.What I found most fascinating is the fantasy that penetrates all of these people (right, left and law enforcement), how those fantasies can lead to disastrous consequences and how ego can rationalize it all.There's a certain tragedy in Brandon's very small progress of stabbing in the dark at what he believes is the enemy; in one case resulting in great good and in another, ruining lives, but he can't connect the dots. He can't see how he takes one side of an ambiguous coin today, and the other side tomorrow, all the while mistaking his waffling for insight. And few around him seem to get it either: the radicals and their fair trade coffee coops, or the law enforcement looking to make their conviction numbers and "do their part" in post-911 America. In the end, Brandon simply idealizes and does whatever he thinks will most impress those he's surrounded by at the moment, and the only conclusion I can draw from that is he's either easily manipulated or morally bankrupt.

A documentary on radical left-wing activist turned FBI informant, Brandon Darby.So, he started out with a group of anarchists in New Orleans, a group which helped set up clinics with Black Panthers. Darby was described by his colleagues as an "egomaniac" and "alpha dog" during this point...Somewhere along the way, the Panthers try to turn him on to multi-level marketing... and he goes to Venezuela where he is mixed up with the FARC. Upon his return, he goes from left-wing anarchist to right-wing anarchist (Tea Party). And then things get weird...Watching this, you have to wonder, is Darby a liar or exaggerator? Paranoid? A hero? Or someone who is simply an opportunist?

I think the message of this movie is lost in the left/right side-taking that many viewers will feel the need to take. Above it all is Darby's simple aspirations to help people and do the right thing, which is transcendent to any side and is the side everyone should take.Unfortunately this makes him a complex character in a world that likes to take sides and trumpet ideals to the detriment of undeserving and unawares people. He did the right thing for Robert King Wilkerson by going back and fighting for his survival, and tried to help people by creating the Common Ground foundation and rebuilding a divided community. His activism was fueled by anger from the neglect of the Federal government's lack of response to the Katrina disaster, and his flair for radical protest was egged on by an ambitious ego that wanted to do more than the average man.He may have stoked a fire that caused a couple of kids to try to do something violent to make a message, but he did the right thing by trying to stop it. I can't think of one liberal that would be willing to put themselves in one of those cars that could have caught fire and maimed or killed them. While it may be frustrating to try to pin down a guy that seems to be playing both sides, he's really taking the higher road by refusing to be a part of a violent protest and disrupt it. As negligent and profiteering as the right-wing power is today, harming innocent people and destroying collateral property is not the answer and only strengthen's the power's resolve to suppress it. Brandon was right to fight against the powers-that-be that contributed to the mess in Katrina and other suppressive powers, but he was more right to stand in the way of violent protesters who felt innocent people getting harmed or their property damaged justified the means to the end. While I feel he hasn't gotten deep enough into the right-wing to see their corruption and the misguided souls (much like the left) of many of their followers, I do believe him when he says his ultimate motivation is to help people and do the right thing, which is evidenced when he left the FBI due to their negligence, and he just may leave his own party when he realizes they can't live up to his two simple ideals of doing the right thing and helping people, which is something we all should be living up to. That's what our common ground should be.

...to become their next anti terror wins.This brandon guy is a disgusting rat.At first I felt lots of hope seeing guys like this making a change in LA during Katrina. Brandon's facade quickly fell as he showed how quickly his "morals" and self worth went down the drain when he realized he'd never be as important as he wanted in the anarchist community. The anarchist community doesn't have room for egomaniacs, but the FBI will let you be someone special and pat you on the back as you set up young kids by pressuring them to make bombs and commit violent actions.Had Brandon not been in their life, this just may not have happened. They looked up to him as he told them not to be "pussies".All in all, excellent movie, but what a lowlife.