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Review Dec 17 2008 « | »
Hunter S Thompson Documentary Another good documentary to see over Christmas, when for galleries all is calm, all is closed: 'Gonzo: The life......

Jon Openshaw

Another good documentary to see over Christmas, when for galleries all is calm, all is closed: 'Gonzo: The life and Work of Dr. Hunter S. Thompson' has been well hyped, almost as well as the journalistic style itself, but is well worth a look. Director Alex Gibney has a refreshing visual approach that weaves archive footage (both familiar and obscure), home videos, film clips and a load of talking heads.

These interviewees are drawn from broad sources and give some worthy insights. The fact that everyone from ex-Hells Angels and ex-Presidents are prepared to share both fond and fearsome memories shows that the man left his mark.

One of the most interesting things that I took from 'Gonzo' was Thompson's relationship with the artist Ralph Steadman. They first collaborated on 'The Kentucky Derby is Decadent and Depraved', what is often seen as Thompson's seminal work and the first piece to which the term 'Gonzo' was applied.

Steadman says that something happened at the Derby where \'the evil\' started coming out through his drawings (this may have been something to do with the mescaline). Thompson also underwent a transformation; struggling to meet deadlines he started tearing out pages from his journal and sending them through to the editor raw. He later described the process as like \'falling down a well and landing in a pool of mermaids\'.

Of course Thompson went on to collaborate with Steadman on many of his major works. The now infamous Gonzo style of seamless real and surreal carries well from word to picture - few literary styles invoke such instant visual associations.

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