Here is a film so self-referential that it repeats the tragedy of its unsung hero's life: it presents a true story about how the world as we know it came seconds away from destruction, but was saved by the protagonist's courageous and audacious decisions, simply because he understood the flaws of the system and the impact that bureaucracy and protocol would bring to our world. However, this most incredible true story is shot by a director who seems not to understand the importance of these decisions, and instead wishes to focus on this man's family, the loss of his wife and the falling out with his mother.
As a result, the director seems more focused on "documentary" protocol than the essence of the real story, and ends up behaving like the USSR General who called the "man who saved the world" in his office not to congratulate him, but to tell him off because he had not updated the unit's daily logs.
In the end, this documentary fails its protagonist, it fails the viewing public that does not get a thorough presentation of the balance of the events during that period of the Cold War, it fails history fans because it does not deliver a narration of a most incredible event (in a way, even more important than the Cuban Missile Crisis) and ultimately it fails its purpose of existence, replacing it with some uninspired shots of a Russian man's trip to the USA.
This is a film that needs to be reshot entirely by a different director, one who can grasp the importance of the main story and can deliver the story of the "man who saved the world" instead of some weird hybrid between historical documovie and reality tv trash that end up offending and violating the privacy of the people involved in these incredible events.
Review of The Man Who Saved the World
