alt Hacker NewsIt's a worthy movie, plays with form, true to Fielder's style.
However I strongly disagree with the author of this post. The one thing it does wrong is under-emphasizes how much hard evidence there is the Holmes personally did serious crimes:
1. Concealed use of competitor's machines since she knew there machines weren't capable.
2. Fabricated military contracts and endorsements.
3. Knowingly presented widely inflated revenue projections to investors.
4. Explicitly admitted in court to forging reports using the letterhead and logos of major pharmaceutical companies without their permission
5. There's text messages, internal emails, and firsthand whistleblower testimony—proving that Elizabeth Holmes and her chief operating officer, Sunny Balwani, orchestrated a ruthless campaign to silence anyone who tried to expose the fraud.
If anything the movie tries to let Holmes dupe you into forgetting this. Frankly the fact that SHE invited NATHAN to film this makes me think she was trying to use her baby as a way to garner sympathy and whitewash her life (presumably not really understanding his work).
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!!! SPOILERS !!!
I agree. The EH portrayed in this movie is much more sympathetic than the one portrayed in the Carreyrou book, and in Dropout. Fielder obviously knows all of this, and he is consistently interested in the "meta" levels of storytelling. So I don't think the point of the movie is as simple as "but wait, maybe she is actually innocent!".
One point seems to be mindfuckery -- EH making Nathan unsure of who she is, and when she is being honest; him doing the same to his audience; even Amanda seems to get in on it. For example: when Amanda and Nathan are in front of the fireplace talking about Nathan's visit to EH in prison: was that scripted? Or was it a genuine conversation? Or an improvised conversation (with an agreed set of points to be made)?
It wasn't about Theranos though, but the person behind it. I would say this comment sums it up: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50137988 - so much of the screen time is dedicated to (A) the New York Times quote about if Holmes actually said "They’re not playing me. They’re playing a character I created", and (B) whether or not she knew about the money Billy asked for.
And, with (spoilers) the final prison visitation exchange, honestly it's pretty telling that she probably was just being manipulative the entire time because she doesn't seem to care that Billy asked for the money.
In a way, this documentary was probably _going to_ be about exploring the factual matters and whether or not she knew she was actually guilty or had some level of remorse. There are many aspects of that in the film. But Billy asking for the money to sign the appearance/likeness contract seems to have derailed Lance and Nathan's original intention for the movie, since that ask - and that Holmes stepped away - directly plays into whether or not she is this incredibly manipulative person.