Gonzo: The Life and Work of Dr. Hunter S. Thompson
Director: Alex Gibney
Year Released: 2008
Rating: 2.5
Loving tribute to the late great journalist and professional wild man, HST, and his penchant for Wild Turkey, Dunhills, assorted drugs and firearms. Seems to purposely omit countless things against the man that should have been included - documentaries don't usually have the same amount of cutting detail as biographies/exposes - and keeps criticism of him to a minimum: it doesn't talk about his wife's drug abuse, his wounding his assistant with a shotgun or his domestic abuse, preferring to take pride in his (admittedly amusing) hooliganism. I like how it sneaks in there the lament that Thompson was precisely the kind of person that should be around in these troubling political times (Bush II, Iraq II, Afghanistan, health care, economic drudgery) and that by checking out his own way he was, in his way, 'robbing' the world of his voice. Once again, to quote Robyn Hitchcock: "When you're gone, you take your whole world with you."
