Steve Jobs: The Man in the Machine

The documentary opens on a single question: why did the death of a company executive nobody had met bring people into the streets around the world. Alex Gibney works backwards from there. It does not repeat the success story. Gibney is interested in what stayed in shadow: the daughter Jobs denied for years, the investigation into backdated stock options, factory conditions in China, and the raid on a journalist's home after a lost iPhone prototype. This is not a film of admiration; it is built on how personal charisma covers ethical gaps. Apple did not take it well. Senior executive Eddy Cue called it an inaccurate and mean-spirited view of his friend. Gibney's usual method works here too: the absence of those who refused to talk is itself used as information. Who it is for: viewers who want technology history and corporate criticism read together. Who it is not for: anyone looking for a celebration of Jobs's legacy; the film does the opposite.