I almost cant find the words. I'm a disabled vet, as such I have plenty of downtime, and i watch a LOT of movies. Eventually i wrote my own screenplay but in so doing, i became just as interested in lighting, technical aspects of camera work and cuts/editing etc., as much and sometimes more than content. In this film, its strength insofar as the tale it tells and its mastery in terms of how its story is told are at a loggerhead.
Theranos is/was a company in silicon valley founded my a Steve Jobs superfan and emulator. Talent is in no short supply with Elizabeth Holmes, and aspirations were such a part of her personality that she was able to recruit men who is or were world leaders. Secretaries of state, secretaries of defense, Marine Corps Generals... And the technology was as groundbreaking as it was revolutionary. A finger prick at Walgreen's and a capillary blood draw - luttle more than a spot of blood fed into a miniature test tube and then into a machine about the size of a microwave, and it can test your blood for 50 different maladies. Excuse me 100 different maladies. Oops I meant 200. The number is 250. 250 different illnesses and diseases. See where this is going? How was this woman able to invent machines and technology that were SURE to change the way healthcare would be experienced from here on out? How did she do it, you ask? Apparently she didnt. One thing led to another and another until the wheels began to fall off
Remember, this is potentially a disaster of epic proportions, this compact revolutionary machine that had the industry salivating was advertised to diagnose the health of any person that walked into any Walgreens. STD's, cancers, diseases, etc. And when employees stopped and thought about the potential consequences, they started to whisper. At that point the hierarchy was just as paranoid as the employees who were beginning to spill the beans. Next toss in the public at large who now had a justifiable reason to be concerned and pissed off, a fortune 500 company who began backing away from a commitment to install this machine in scores of locations across the country, investors, reporters, lawyers.... And then it got spooky! There are mysterious men following people, others wouldnt trust any phone that wasn't a "burner" that couldnt be tapped and could be jettisoned later, and even then much of the information passed back and forth on them was somehow compromised by these scary executives and lawyers. World renowned lawyers. There was a suicide. Restraining orders. Litigation. Physical assault. Family members at polar opposite ends of the spectrum. It feels like you've hopped into a John Grisham novel only even he couldnt fashion this type of suspense!
The movie and its storyteller are realistic up front that the material you're going to be asked to envision is technical and even boring - but hang in there! And to make sure you do, we're going to give you plenty of visuals of the attractive founder and a few crumbs. As the film moves along you are a bottom of the totem pole new hire, and you get the sense that you are learning and moving up in the company. In order to stun you with the eventuality that is coming, you get a base education of the material and the director and editor are masterful at informing the viewer with visual aids and techniques and analogies. Once you are a bit invested, they set the hook. You had me at blood draw!
From that point on its riveting from several perspectives: the deception that was going on, the absolute defiance of those parties involved in communicating the misleading information, and, most definitely and my favorite, the way the directors created suspense - actual real live suspense - in a documentary! It's TRUE! I was biting my nails and constantly checking to see how much longer it would run because I really truly did not want it to end. In fact after I finish this review I'm going to do two things: search the internet for any more information on this whole event, and looking up anything else this director has made.
This is as much a work of art in storytelling as it is a thrilling story. Of course, perhaps the former helped uncover the latter. See it, be informed and entertained from it and learn from its story telling techniques. You can thank me later.
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