Gonzo: The Life and Work of Dr. Hunter S. Thompson

The documentary takes Hunter S. Thompson not as a legend but by reading what he actually wrote, piece by piece. The year with the Hells Angels, the Las Vegas book, the stretch covering the 1972 presidential campaign and the long decline afterwards open in order. Alex Gibney has Johnny Depp read the texts and sets witnesses between them, among them Jann Wenner, Ralph Steadman, George McGovern, Pat Buchanan and Jimmy Carter. Its most honest quality is refusing to hide that Thompson was finally captured by the character he invented: the journalism loses his interest and the persona remains. Steadman's drawings and the audio recordings of the period are the primary material. Who it is for: anyone interested in the history of American journalism and the political weather after the sixties. Who it is not for: viewers who need distance from drugs and suicide.