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Best of Enemies (2015)

This was my favorite documentary of Sundance 2015 bar none. The film has two directors, and one is Morgan Neville who won the Oscar for 20 Feet from Stardom. The film is so well edited and solid -- it has a narrative that really keeps you engaged. It doesn't hurt to have two of the most fascinating and witty subjects in William F. Buckley and Gore VIdal.

The film begins at Gore VIdal's home on the cliffs of Revello on the Amalfi Coast of Italy. He is showing off the bathroom which is the only room that he has photos of himself. Pictures of the 1968 debates with Buckley have the pride of place over the bathtub!

The directors set the stage, interviewing people like the former president of ABC. "ABC was a distant third in the ratings If there had been four networks then, we would have been in fourth place." ABC could not afford the extensive convention coverage that the other networks were doing, so tried something radical and new, bringing William F. Buckley and Gore Vidal together to debate the issues. There is wonderful archive footage of both conventions. The debate clips are riveting as each man tries to score debate points and skewer the other. The moderator barely gets a word in edgewise.

The penultimate moment comes in a debate in Chicago when Vidal calls Buckley a Nazi and Buckley uncharacteristicly loses his cool and threatens to punch Vidal in the face! He never gets over the fact that he lost his cool like that. The two men hated each other for the rest of their lives.

There are interviews with Buckley's biographer and Gore Vidal's editor, and cultural commentary by the NPR On the Media host, Andrew Sullivan and Christopher Hitchens.

The film concludes with a montage of clips from FOX news, MSNBC, etc. Buckley and Vidal's debates changed TV forever. The model of their debate can be seen everywhere on the TV landscape now.

Just a wonderful film, and so relevant to our times.