Review of Best of Enemies (2015) by Reece L — 08 Jan 2016

As a devotee of Gore Vidal, it should come as no surprise that Best of Enemies serves, in my view, as means of laying plain Vidal's radical progressivism paired with Buckley's regressive, ignorant, and prejudiced views rooted in empty nationalism and a nostalgic fabrication of the past, the comparison resulting in a visual representation of the two polar opposite political ideologies that tear the country in different directions. This kind of material couldn't be more relevant in an age of undeniable political divisiveness, the conversations the pair engaging in mirroring those of contemporary political pundits to an almost unnerving degree.

The film is well made, using traditional methods of splicing archival footage with talking heads to effective results, but what prove more interesting are the ideas the film puts forth; the country consumes and interprets media in a different way due to, at least in part, the Vidal/Buckley debates, the rise of political punditry overtaking the national news' aim to drive the national conversation through legitimate coverage in favor of bluster and righteous indignation. It also shows that the nature of American politics is largely cyclical, with an obvious trend towards the progressive, and while the documentary occasionally spells these bits of commentary out needlessly, the ideas are still there and vital to a political process mired in obstructionism and empty grandstanding when the social and moral problems facing the nation remain as pressing as ever.