“STEVE JOBS: THE MAN IN THE MACHINE” My rating: B
120 minutes | MPAA rating: R
The first hour of “Steve Jobs: The Man in the Machine” is pretty much what you’d expect. It’s mostly a history of the late Steve Jobs and Apple, the brand with which his name will always be synonymous.
The second hour? Well, that’s where things get ugly. Because here filmmaker Alex Gibney (the Oscar-winning “Taxi to the Dark Side” and HBO’s Scientology expose “Going Clear”) delves into the less-inspiring aspects of Jobs’ character, as well as Apple’s corporate malfeasance.
Gibney, who narrates, says that like millions of others he’s in love with Apple products. But he wonders how the brand’s fans can embrace the tech while overlooking the ugly underbelly of Apple’s rise to corporate dominance.
In the first hour we see Jobs’ first TV interview (he’s like a kid in a candy store, awed by the technology around him), his early partnership with fellow tech wonk Steve Wozniak (whom he blithely screwed out of millions of dollars), and the introduction of early Mac desktops (Jobs created the phrase “personal computer”).
Jobs believed — and made the rest of us believe — that he was a paradigm shifter, a rebel, and also a business giant/genius. He had one speed — full on — but sought relief in the study of Zen Buddhism.
But even in this retelling of Jobs’ heady early years, there are dark rumblings. Like his refusal to recognize his illegitimate daughter until DNA proved his paternity. The fact that working for Apple was debilitating despite all the countercultural trappings (Jobs could be incredibly callous and cruel toward underlings).
Gibney speculates that having largely failed with human connections, Jobs compensated by creating technology that connected the entire world. At the same time, the film asserts, people aren’t so much connected to Jobs or other people as to his creations.
“My hand is constantly drawn to it,” Gibney says of his new iPhone, “like Frodo’s hand to the ring.”
Butler's Cinema Scene 