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On this page: MUSK | NAZA

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See also: SHADOWS FILM FESTIVAL | Last update 13.Sep.26

Musk
Review by Rich Cline | 4/5

dir Alex Gibney
scr Alex Gibney, Michael J Palmer
prd Alex Gibney, Jessie Deeter, Erin Edeiken, Zhang Xin, Nick Shumaker, Jessica Grimshaw
with Elon Musk, Justine Musk, Ashley St Clair, Claire Boucher, Talulah Riley, Vivian Jenna Wilson, Errol Musk, Geoffrey Hinton, Lori Garver, Jim Cantrell, Martin Eberhard, Reid Hoffman, Kara Swisher, Dana Mattioli, Lora Kolodny, Katie Drummond
release UK Oct.26 lff,
US 16.Oct.26
26/US Black Bear 3h52

TORONTO FILM FEST

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First-rate documentarian Alex Gibney makes another epic-length profile, this time with a subject who didn't want to be involved. As a result, the film can far more honest about the richest man in the world. Elon Musk is larger-than-life, so perhaps it's correct to depict him as an AI space god who speaks his words verbatim. And the film skilfully shifts from casual observation to wide-eyed horror.

Musk controls, and often invents, his own narrative. His skill is knowing how to package an idea as a preordained success. He uses each project to springboard into something bigger, even when they fail, or if he does. His biggest boost was taking over Tesla then framing himself as its founder to pivot into SpaceX, with its huge government contracts. A perceived slight led him to throw in with America's right-wing Republicans, which put Donald Trump back in the White House while Musk amassed an unprecedented amount of data to feed into his AI projects.

Never glibly critical, Gibney uses exhaustive research, archival footage and interviews with people who have know Musk too well to be objective. So we hear from his South African parents and brother, various wives and girlfriends, business partners, experts and journalists, each of whom offers knowing insights.

As a result, even if someone bears a grudge, the bigger picture remains remarkably robust. Gibney takes a rather big swing in framing all of this as some sort of monster video game, reflecting Musk's theory that we are all living in a simulation where he is the alpha player. That certainly helps explain why he is so determined to accomplish his goals, which may not be the ones he shouts about all the time.

This is where the film gets scary, because his power is real. Both he and Trump directly avoided prison by winning the 2024 election, and they have since not-so-carefully dismantled the systems that were investigating their business practices. They have also caused tens of millions of people to die by cutting aid, assistance and health care. In Musk's eyes, this is somehow necessary for the future of the planet. So our main question after watching this film is whether there will be anything left of Earth to save after Musk, his fellow tech bros and greedy politicians are through with it. No wonder he's looking at Mars.

themes, language 7.Sep.26 vff

Naza
Review by Rich Cline | 4.5/5

MUST SEE

dir-scr Yuval Abraham, Rachel Szor
prd Harry Davies, Lindsay Poulton, James Wilson
with Yuval Abraham
release WP Sep.26 vff
26/UK 1h20

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Don't expect something gently informative here: this documentary's title is the acronym used by Israeli Military Forces to calculate the collateral number of civilians who are expected to be killed in a strike against Hamas in Gaza. Oscar-winning filmmakers Yuval Abraham and Rachel Szor use quiet conversations to tell this story, revealing that innocent people, including children, are being deliberately murdered as part of Israel's war on Palestine.

On rooftops in nighttime Tel Aviv, director Abraham clandestinely meets up with 24 Israeli intelligence officers with their faces and voices disguised. Around them, residents go about their lives glimpsed through windows, watching news on television while these operatives softly blow the whistle on what their government is actually doing. Acknowledging that they could be imprisoned for what they are saying, these young men admit that this is indeed a genocide. By Benjamin Netanyahu's own definition, his military is conducting terrorist operations across Palestine, targeting civilians and destroying their homes so they can never return.

Powerfully, there's only one brief scene of the destruction at the very end of the film, shot on a phone as people struggle to cope with destruction in their neighbourhood. The only other cutaways feature archival footage relating to the creation of Israel's intelligence network and the founding of Tel Aviv. Otherwise, these witnesses speak from shadows about how they have used technology to track every person in Gaza, watching and listening through their phones.

Allowing AI to choose targets is easy if you know where people are, especially when they're home with their families at night. The acceptable number is 20 Nazas (innocent victims) for a low-level or former Hamas operative, but 500 Nazas have been authorised for at least one target. And the intelligence service expands their operations to blackmailing anyone worldwide who dares to threaten Israel's plan, such as the International Court of Justice in the Hague.

These men have believed the lie that all Gazans are responsible for anything Hamas has done. So the "need to erase Gaza" guides their missions, even if killing babies makes them feel uncomfortable. It's chilling to hear intelligent people so calmly discussing mass murder, especially in places like food lines where starving people are shot while trying to get something to eat. These men speak candidly about how that once had no doubts and enjoyed each "successful" operation. One of them notes that he always saw Nazis as pure evil. But now he understands how they could do what they did.

themes, language, violence 10.Sep.26 vff

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See also: SHADOWS FILM FESTIVAL