You Can See Everything
The camera is an amazing device. When you press record, it films whatever you point it at. It is very literal. However, when music and edits are factored in, it changes how the footage is perceived by the viewer. Tense music with lengthy close-ups can make someone uneasy; recut the same scene with jaunty music and quick reaction shots and it suddenly seems amusing.
Of course, we all know what we are getting into with narrative movies. When it comes to documentaries, on the other hand, despite common knowledge about filmmaking techniques, people believe they are seeing, not a depiction of reality, but actual reality. Intellectually, we are aware that these are still the work of people. People with biases and agendas, crafting a linear story out of many hours of footage. Yet we desire to see them as truth. This is one of many ways we assist our media in shaping the world we live in.
You Can See Everything is a documentary about Elizabeth Holmes, the founder of tech company Theranos, who was convicted of defrauding investors out of half a billion dollars. She and her boyfriend, Billy Evans, invited directors Nathan Fielder and Lance Oppenheim into their home, with total access, for the last month before she was sent to federal prison for eleven years. Elizabeth’s stated objective was to give the world the ability to see the truth: that she is innocent. Fielder and Oppenheim’s objective was to use this access to give her this chance, though with the implied assumption that it would expose her deceptions. That is one half of this movie.
The interviews with Elizabeth and Billy are interesting, taking us inside her life as she prepares to lose her freedom. We see her with her family and working with Billy as they try to get investors for a new business endeavor, as improbable as it seems that anyone would trust her with their money again. Who is this woman? Can we believe anything she says? The hidden question in any documentary is can we believe everything we see?
You Can See Everything (172 minutes, without the end credits) does not hide it. Instead, it analyzes it. The second half of this movie is extraordinary. It is essentially Fielder interrogating his idea of Holmes, Billy, his footage, everything he (and we) have seen up to this point. Can he trust his own opinions?
Whose truth is this? Is it even true at all? Is Holmes manipulating us? Or are the filmmakers? Or Billy? All of them? None of them? In the end, Fielder and Oppenheim do not try to answer that for us. There are biases everywhere here, as well as agendas. In order to discover who is being honest, we would have to first figure out what they would have to gain from it. That is much easier said than done.
This is a movie that requires active watching. It involves us, implicates us, forces us to examine what we think and why. Where did our ideas originate from? There is a reason this feature documentary, not a popular format, filmed in secret and stealth-premiered at Telluride in early September, has blasted its way into the cultural conversation. It is about an intriguing public figure, though not in a way anyone could have anticipated. It is also a deconstruction of itself.
I will say no more. You Can See Everything is a mystery we all must unravel on our own, each of us finding something different at its center. What a fascinating movie.
4¾ out of 5
Cast:
Elizabeth Holmes as Herself
Billy Evans as Himself
Nathan Fielder as Himself
Directed by Nathan Fielder and Lance Oppenheim
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