Steve Jobs: Man in the Machine

It must be difficult to do a documentary about a man who was deliberately opaque, who wanted to be known only for his work, or as his work, and tried to reveal as little about himself as possible - even to the point of hiding his car's license plate! Some info about him does come thru here - not surprisingly he was a perfectionist workaholic whose one real love in life was Apple Computer, a project that was very personal and emotional for him. He had a thing for Japanese culture and Zen Buddhism, and their aesthetics influenced his designs. We see him on stage performing at Apple events (something he did well), and it becomes clear that his genius was for marketing and design. It was his lesser known teammates that did the nitty gritty programming and financial work. It is safe to say he was a genius - but was he a good man? He could be dishonest, he could be mean, he could be selfish (as revealed in his treatment of his first partner and his first child), and philanthropy didn't interest him. When he died, his multi-billion dollar fortune went into several anonymous trusts. Ultimately I felt like the world did not really get to know Jobs - and I guess that is how he wanted it. I am a HUGE Alex Gibney fan btw - keep them coming, Alex - you're the best!

Steve Jobs: The Man in the Machine reviewed by jd ep Since the death of the Apple Co-Founder, no less than 4 films have been made about Steve Jobs, most attempt to canonize him as the Patron Saint of Personal Technology. The Man in the Machine asks the question of "Why did so many people weep for the passing of Steve Jobs?" In reality, Jobs was a bitter perfectionist, who sought inner peace, though never seemed to allow himself to sacrifice for the zen for which he desired. Documentarian Alex Gibney's Man in the Machine, dares to show Jobs for the man who he was, warts and all. Despite what the Cult of Apple would have you believe, Jobs was a harsh taskmaster, and not necessarily the sole architect of the success of Apple. Gibney, no shrinking violet when it comes to controversy, as the first result **** search for his name will show an ad decrying him for his Triple Emmy winning "Going Clear: Scientology and the Prison of Belief," narrates and makes himself the cypher for the audience, we are seeing Alex's journey on piecing together who Steve Jobs really was. From Steve's birth as an unwanted orphan, to his early days as a Phone Phreak, to launching the first Apple, to Steve's attempt to deny his responsibility for his first daughter, Lisa by claiming he was infertile and therefore couldn't be the father. Gibney, over the course of 2 hours and 8 minutes, un-ashamedly presents the darker side of the Crown Prince of Cupertino. Steve's hypocrisy, believing he was above the law, dismantling philanthropic outreach from Apple. Gibney asks "What were his values as a citizen? Was he interested in power to change the world, or the right to have power without responsibility?" The film illuminates Steve's involvement on several damning events, from a Stock Backdating scandal which threw a few high level Apple Execs under the bus, the anti-trust class action lawsuit that affected 64,000 silicon valley programmers, to Apple's tax avoidance involving an Irish Shell Company. Gibney also talks about the iPhone 4 Leak that Gizmodo broke. It's a David Vs Goliath story that ends with David becoming a larger Goliath. As for the answer of "why did so many people weep for Steve Jobs," Gibney offers a Japanese term "Mono no aware" which translates to "an empathy toward things." Steve Jobs gave us all our own black mirrors. A thing that contains our entire lives, which in the end, are nothing but things. No doubt Steve Jobs was a difficult man, but as the documentary concludes he was, just a man. A man with vision, and hunger, and a master marketer, but as Gibney states late in the film, "[Jobs] had the focus of a monk, but none of the Empathy." Steve Jobs: The Man in the Machine is well worth the watch, whether you're an Apple Fanboy/girl, an Android User or a troglodyte, Steve Jobs was a major architect of our modern world and we should know who the man was, rather than just idolize him through rose colored glasses. Movie Grade: A+