Why Watch? If its provocative title isn’t enough, this short documentary focusing on failed Doomsday Prophet Robert Fitzpatrick pours on the intrigue by giving him a wide berth to share his thoughts. The result is an after-the-fact historical artifact about someone utterly convinced of something…who has been proven profoundly wrong.
Coming off of Mayan fever in 2012, director Garret Harkawik is keen on finding the human inside the cartoon. It would have been easy to bully this severely misguided man, but it’s a much greater feat to provide a sense of welling empathy for a figure who publicly humiliates himself while believing he’s doing a grand public good. Watching the crowd grow hostile after the end fails to come is about as uneasy as it gets. When Chris shared this film (complete with his pitch for having John Turturro play Fitzpatrick in a feature-length film), it proved to be an example of deft execution with a highly compelling subject that demanded to have a bigger spotlight.
What will it cost you? Only 13 minutes.
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Related Topics: Short Films
