However much special pleading may be made for this as an act of deconstructing the documentary process, the fact remains that this is a very badly made film--poorly paced, out of focus, the foreground blitzed by backlight, the comments of Derrida himself reduced to utter vapidity. One comes away with absolutely no understanding of Derrida's philosophy, and no comprehension of his life. The filmmakers followed the guy around for weeks, and the best they could do looks like a high-school video project. There's no excuse for poor craft (something forgotten not just by filmmakers but also by tenured professors besotted with critical theory, who crank out bad prose that says nothing). A far, far better example of how a philosopher can be treated on film is "McLuhan's Wake," which in 90 minutes provides an excellent biographical overview and introduction to the key concepts in the writings of Marshall McLuhan. I'm not a fan of McLuhan's any more than I am of Derrida's, but that doesn't stop me from recognizing that McLuhan has received first-class treatment from his documentarians. "Derrida," the film, on the other hand, is an amateurish waste.
