Several kinds of power in one public figure
Alex Gibney's documentary examines Elon Musk across overlapping public and private spheres. Businesses, public reputation, relationships and political influence are difficult to separate when the same individual is central to all of them. The film's subject is therefore broader than the history of a single product or company.
The extended running time creates space for several perspectives. A person who encountered Musk as a family member, an engineer or a journalist will bring different experience and different questions. A useful way to watch is to identify which aspect of the subject each contributor can directly illuminate, and where an account shifts from personal observation to interpretation of the larger public figure.
Documentary participants and authorship
The people listed as appearing include Justine Musk, Ashley St. Clair, Kara Swisher, Zoë Schiffer, Martin Eberhard and Geoffrey Hinton. These are documentary participants, not actors playing fictionalised versions of themselves. Gibney directs, and the writing credits include Gibney and Michael J. Palmer. Bleecker Street is the documented US theatrical distributor.
That documentary form still involves choices about selection, framing and sequence. A viewer can assess the arguments the film makes while paying attention to the kinds of material used to support them. An interview, an archival appearance and an assertion about a person's motives do not all carry the same evidential weight.
Make room for a long watch and a precise discussion
At three hours and fifty-five minutes, Musk requires substantially more time than a typical feature. It is classified R in the United States for language and brief violent content. Plan accordingly if it is part of a group watch, particularly if you want time afterwards to discuss its arguments.
The most useful conversation is likely to be specific. Which claims concern documented decisions, which rely on individual testimony and which concern the film's interpretation of influence? Keeping those categories distinct allows viewers with different prior opinions of Musk to discuss the same evidence. It also avoids turning every assessment of a particular action into a judgement about an entire public identity.
