Quartile rating: 7/10 · 1 rating
A documentary about the legendary series of nationally televised debates in 1968 between two great public intellectuals, the liberal Gore Vidal and the conservative William F. Buckley Jr. Intended as commentary on the issues of their day, these vitriolic and explosive encounters came to define the modern era of public discourse in the media, marking the big bang moment of our contemporary media landscape when spectacle trumped content and argument replaced substance. Best of Enemies delves into the entangled biographies of these two great thinkers, and luxuriates in the language and the theater of their debates, begging the question, "What has television done to the way we discuss politics in our democracy today?"
Best of Enemies succeeds largely on the strength of its extraordinary subject matter — the Vidal-Buckley debates are genuinely singular moments in American television and political history. The film earns a high Novelty score because it captures a truly one-of-a-kind intellectual clash that has no real equivalent, and the documentary frames it thoughtfully as the origin point of modern pundit culture. The archival footage is electrifying and the film makes excellent use of it, though cinematographically it doesn't transcend conventional talking-heads documentary form. The biographical interweaving of Vidal and Buckley is engaging and the structure is solid, but the thematic conclusions about media and democracy feel somewhat obvious to contemporary audiences. The ending is satisfying but somewhat anticlimactic, letting the footage speak for itself without a truly resonant final statement. Acting doesn't strictly apply but the interview subjects and narration are handled competently.