Bulletproof Salesman (2008/First Run Features DVD)
Picture:
C Sound: C Extras: D Documentary: B-
The
subject of war profiteering is as important to consider as ever, especially
since the Middle East situation was exploited for profit at any costs in the
last decade when the energy should have been 100% spent on winning the
war(s). That situation has been changed
by the Obama Administration for the better, but in the middle of what is still
a huge mess, one of the debates has been about armor. The officers of the U.S. military
obviously do not have enough on their vehicles, but the Michael Tucker/Petra
Epperlein documentary Bulletproof
Salesman (2008) shows how the rich never have to go without protection.
That is
if they get the best possible vehicles.
Enter Fidelis Cloer, the title character of our examination involving
armored vehicles. He sells to the
richest people in the world and when there is war, business booms, yet his
vehicles are (he claims and these seem to be demonstrated as such) are superior
to competing vehicles on the market.
Some competitors sell cheaper vehicles, but Cloer rightly claims they
offer limited protection. When we see
some Italian competitors (Cloer is from Germany) with track/SUV-type
vehicles showing off their re-enforcements on the outside, he explains how that
is inside and not secured can become a set of deadly projectiles.
The 70
minutes wants to at least partly indict Cloer for making money on a bad
situation and in his claim “I sell a good feeling” which is called security,
but also in the indictment as fun with guns and war. If anything, some of their intent backfires
and makes one wish he was hired by the U.S. to arm more vehicles for
soldiers. If anything, Cloer seems to
know more about what he is doing than most and that is the most interesting
side of what is meant as at least a semi-damning work. It is worth a look and does have some
interesting moments.
The anamorphically
enhanced 1.78 X 1 image has softness and motion blur throughout, shot on the
fly, but maybe the editing process added image errors or not. The footage itself is often interesting. The Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo is weak and
suffers its share of location audio limits, but talking is usually audible, but
be careful of playback levels and switching.
There are no extras.
- Nicholas Sheffo
