Slow pace in the most part of the movie.

Highly Overrated But Still Good

It's not great by any means, but it's a pretty good movie that didn't leave me filled with regret for investing time in it.

Story: It's very simple but honestly that is fine.

OK, so the title might be a big statement. I haven't seen all documentaries ever made and I bet a lot of people will disagree with me. Note, I never said this was the BEST documentary. But in its simplicity, there is something incredibly interesting and also quite groundbreaking. And here is why:Sam Vaknin is a self-declared expert on Narcissistic personality disorder and is perhaps most famous for the book "Malignant self-love" which he wrote together with his wife Lydia. Successful businessman turned eco-criminal, Sam is now a doctor of psychology who suffers from all 10 traits of Narcissistic Personality disorder as well as psychopathic traits. Another man who had all 10 traits was Brian Blackwell, who beat both of his parents to death just to cover up the lies he'd told his girlfriend. In other words, if all this is true, Sam is a very dangerous man.Ian Walker follows Sam as he undergoes tests that will confirm whether he is indeed a psychopath or not. As the film goes on we get to follow both Sam and the tests he takes as well as Ian himself, describing his relationship with his subject. Ian also interviews Lydia, Sam's wife. As the testing process becomes more in-depth, the story of their journey becomes more complex and in the end they paint a very insightful portrait of what being a psychopath really means.Though it might be a quite scary revelation, this movie asks some very interesting questions:Can a psychopath ever be self aware?If so, can that person control their behavior?And if we can teach a psychopath to control their behavior before they do something dangerous, what would that mean for society?And for those who say that this is just one person basking in his own glory - that's exactly what it is. And that's why it is so interesting.

I've followed Sam's writings for years. Interesting to see him 'live'.I've had such people in my life & frequently experienced situations like one the Film maker described. Where he had no idea what mood Sam would be & how Sam'll fly in a rage with no obvious external 'provocation'. Some of the bad footage was done on a secret camera to counter Sam's careful manipulative stunts & how he was trying to keep control the whole process. I've seen these subtle stunts for well over a decade with such horrors in my life.I found it interesting to see what was NOT said - some of his background was not confirmed - was his mother verbally abusive or was it just a sympathy ploy? What did his family have to say about it? It was painful watching when the Film maker caught some of the subtle belittling attacks - words with the cutting percussion of a surgical blade. (but leads you open to amateur efforts ) The Film maker was only exposed to this bloke for a few weeks & he was scared, he'll never forget this experience..

Sam Vaknin, the subject of this documentary, we are told, has a high IQ (185!!!), a sense of humor, an irresistible charm, a fake doctorate, and a submissive-codependent doll of a wife. I saw no sign of the first three. Sam is nothing short of loathsome, with a reptilian quality that would send shivers down any normal spine. He is a sadistic and robotically methodical verbal thug who exalts in his handiwork as he reduces everyone around him to stammering nervous wrecks. His wife, Lydia, is a tragic, heart-wrenching, truly lovable figure. What she sees in this physically and spiritually repulsive putrid shell of a human being is beyond me. The moments with her were the strongest in the movie and Walker made a bad call of not pivoting the film around her demure presence. I hope she doesn't get her wish and have kids with Vaknin. She and her children deserve far better.But I harbor grave suspicions regarding the director of this "gem", Ian Walker. Clearly, there is no love lost between him and his protagonist, Vaknin. Equally clearly, we cannot trust him to be truthful and to avoid the kind of editing that borders on misleading the viewer.Consider Sam's allegedly forged academic degree. Whatever his shortcomings and repugnant traits, Sam is brutally and unflinchingly and invariably and unfailingly honest about himself, his disorder, and what a monster he is. Why would he lie about an irrelevant and minor topic like his academic degree? Throughout the film and in its closing 2 minutes Sam protests that he had attended a full-fledged university with campus, faculty and students; that he had submitted a doctoral dissertation (indeed, it can be found in the Library of Congress!); and that he has had to defend it. Walker than plucks a sentence out of context and adds it artificially to Vaknin's previous protestations to create the (patently false!) impression that Vaknin admits to having a fake doctorate!!!Or, consider this: Walker meticulously documents Vaknin's abusive raging outbursts. On many occasions, it is crystal-clear that Vaknin is reacting to off-camera taunting and ill-treatment by Walker. Walker even admits in his PR material to having "poked this snake with a stick". The film's logo is an image of Walker decapitating Vaknin! But Walker never shows us what he did to Vaknin - only what Vaknin did to him, ostensibly unprovoked. Walker uses clever, one-sided editing to achieve a highly unethical result: a misrepresentation of what happened, for sure!This is what I mean when I say that I cannot trust the seethingly hateful, resentful, and envious Walker to be an impartial guide to Vaknin's circumstances, conduct, and psyche.Shouldn't documentary filmmakers harbor at least a modicum of sympathy and compassion in order to avoid the voyeuristic pornography that most exposes become? Walker failed to skirt this particular trap. Hence 7 stars instead of 10.

This is a fascinating documentary about a fascinating subject -- a man who is -- or believes he is a psychopath, and whether his claims can be verified. Like good food for thought, it raises more questions than it answers: How can a psychopath be self aware enough to know and be curious about his psychopathy? Can he be faking being a psychopath? Would doing that make him a psychopath? It's so fascinating at least in part because we can get closer but never really arrive at these answers. It's a credit to the filmmaker that I wished it had gone on longer.Personal taste but I found myself wishing the focus were less on the implications of psychopathy in the business world and on general background, and on even narrower character study of Sam and his wife. The documentarian, though, is to be commended on his insight, self-reflection, and thoroughness in presenting a picture of such a difficult subject to capture. In the end I was left eager to know more about Sam what drives him, and disturbed by his pattern of behavior as well.