MovieChat Forums > Gore Vidal: The United States of Amnesia (2015) Discussion > Amazing, Stimulating and Thought Provoki...

Amazing, Stimulating and Thought Provoking Documentary

posted 11 years ago by endecottp
14 replies | jump to latest

Was engrossed and stimulated from start to finish. Didn't want it to end.If you care about America, what it is, where it's been ,what it means, where it's headed ,go see this.it's smart, funny, fast paced, entertaining and meaningful. You might not agree with Gore Vidal's independent, out of the mainstream, forceful,caustic,haughty and sometimes bitchy ideas but it' refreshing to hear them and are delivered with great theatrics, style, knowledge and authority. Makes one realize we are sorely missing great minds and intellects of Gore Vidal's stature who can stimulate conversation and make us a stronger and more interesting society. This is a portrait of a great personality who knew everyone who was anyone.

[–] TheBoz 10 years ago

Gore Vidal was an azzhole. A great writer. In Public school I read Messiah and Myra Breckenridge, and Burr, 1876, when I still in high school and found him a real page turner. But politically the guy was a wretched self loathing cynic.
In the movie "With Honors" he basically played himself and it was great to see Joe Pescis character slice him down to size in the classroom.

(Gore Vidal)Proffesor Pitkannan: Faith in the wisdom of the people is exactly what makes the Constitution incomplete and crude.

(Joe Pesci)Simon Wilder: Crude? No, sir. Our "founding parents" were pompous, white, middle-aged farmers, but they were also great men. Because they knew one thing that all great men should know: that they didn't know everything. Sure, they'd make mistakes, but they made sure to leave a way to correct them. The president is not an "elected king," no matter how many bombs he can drop. Because the "crude" Constitution doesn't trust him. He's just a bum, okay Mr. Pitkannan? He's just a bum.

What he said as a character in the movie is the same as he felt in real life, only Noam Chomsky comes close today to being as mired in his own self importance.

Like I said, a great writer of Historical Fiction and pure Fiction, but as a for his political opinions the guy was a fcked up paranoid conspiracy nut and if wasn't for his writing he would be just another shock jock. He thought his mind was the best thing since sliced bread but all he did was parrot the philosophies of Machiavelli and Nietzsche and suborned them to his advantage.

[–] Kompressor_Fan 10 years ago

Sounds like you didn't even see the film.....but thanks for chiming in with your rant, anyhow.

The bad news is you have houseguests. There is no good news.

[–] TheBoz 10 years ago

Sorry Doctor Dick, but I did see the film and left with same impression of this old curmudgeon as before I came sat down. This movie only confirmed what I always knew about him. Sounds like you assume more then you have the capacity to process. Sorry but your boy is nothing but a relic within a relic.

[–] Jonnycanfield 10 years ago

TheBoz:

You're wrong but that's okay

[–] bruce-129 9 years ago

You are just like Vidal complained about most Americans, you live and derive your reality from the movies.

It's just a movie. And of course Vidal stole, all artists steal, they and everyone else has to make a living.

1) UnWatchable 2)Watchable,ButBad 3)Decent,SeeOnce 4)Good,Repeat&Recommend 5)Great,Classic

[–] TheSpiritOfTheTimes 9 years ago

Hilarious little rant. That you pick Chomsky as your other figure at which you directed your bile is telling- when people say something you don't want to hear, but can't really dispute, you attack them personally- 'self-importance'. Lol.

Your mother was a hamster and your father smelt of elderberries.

[–] brockmeeks 10 years ago

I really enjoyed it. Although, if you've read Palimpsest and watched many of his interviews available on YouTube then you know most of this stuff.

One of the main reasons I watched was to see if there were a few stories I hadn't heard yet. It was worth it.

I wouldn't say that he was self-loathing. Just forever disappointed which made him cynical. I think anyone who is constantly looking for the bedrock truth will come out disappointed.

He grew up around politics, and knew what the country was founded on. Wouldn't it drive you crazy to see so many people cutting corners or disregarding the Constitution? I do wish he had brought those doing good to the same light.

What keeps me coming back is his wit. In his novels, essays and especially in interviews he was razor sharp.

His need to be on camera, which served him so well in his prime (which lasted for more than most) betrayed him at the end. With the dementia and alcoholism he was a shell of his former self. The quickness just wasn't there anymore. I understand that he was in a lot of pain at the end and being Vidal, he took this out on things around him.

I really miss him. He shot straight from the hip, calling out anyone. He pulled no punches. I really respect this man.

[–] bruce-129 9 years ago

Not everyone who gets old gets dementia. Perhaps you have not seen real dementia.

Every comment here seems to based on the superficial ... that is probably what depressed
Vidal, the superficiality of the younger generation.

1) UnWatchable 2)Watchable,ButBad 3)Decent,SeeOnce 4)Good,Repeat&Recommend 5)Great,Classic

[–] 9 years ago

[deleted]

[–] bruce-129 9 years ago

I don't know what it is to care about America, it's like wondering what happens
after we die. I agree this was a fine documentary, biographically, I gave it a
10/10 .... but when I think of Leftists and Vidal I see the same contractory
problems.

You are so totally right that today there is nothing ... the marketplace of ideas
in America has been almost fully decertified, and the ground for the most part
salted.

I never agreed with Bill Buckley very often, but even his Firing Line program and
the likes of it are gone to be replaced with the idiocy of Limbaugh and Savage.

This was very well done, but it speaks to more than just Gore Vidal, as well, which
really makes it brilliant.

1) UnWatchable 2)Watchable,ButBad 3)Decent,SeeOnce 4)Good,Repeat&Recommend 5)Great,Classic

[–] jpendleton6 9 years ago

You'd think with the changes regarding how homosexuality is viewed since he became famous in the 1940's, he'd be more open about his own sexuality later in life. Claiming that the relationship with his companion was in no way physical is kind of hard to believe. Weird that somebody so progressive and unapologetically honest would make claims like that. IDK, maybe he is protecting his companion there. Maybe it was his wishes that the extent of their relationship was kept hush and he was only fulfilling that obligation.

He also appeared to say things for shock value. What conspiracy theory can I support and grab attention with? Some of his views came across as attention grabbing more than genuine.

[–] fanaticita 9 years ago

Sometimes you have to grab to get attention. I don't think he had to do it often because people loved him for the most part, or at least they loved watching him cross fire with other people like Buckley and Mailer, among others. Today, one definitely had to grab. . ..

[–] fanaticita 9 years ago

Oh, and I meant to mention. . .. Vidal didn't dislike America at all. He was disappointed, and were he still alive he would be even more so. He knew politics suck, that money rules, and that today we have the corporate media controlling what we see and hear on tv, radio, newspapers, etc. That's partly who the 1% are along with the other people who have turned this country into an oligarchy/plutarchy, and I don't see anything or anybody changing that. This is in part why Vidal spent a lot of time in Italy.

[–] bullblood9 8 years ago

The Roman Empire lasted 500 years

Sometimes I wish I had a time machine to go 1000 years into the future to see
how our "grand experiment" turned out, it sure seems headed for a train wreck.