I'm a big fan of, a practitioner of, and now a researcher of journalism and its impact on the world -- but did not grow up knowing who Mike Wallace was, until I was a young adult. I've read his biography, seen clips, and have followed the history of 60 minutes as an important institution among American Journalism -- so, I had high hopes for the documentary "Mike Wallace is Here". However, what I walked away with was the feeling that Mr. Wallace's film library is a treasure to delve into, I did feel like this film doesn't really do justice to who Mike Wallace was, and the legacy he left behind. The technique of splicing a bunch of footage, while certainly compelling, both of interviews done by and of Mike Wallace just didn't really congeal very well into a coherent story, and I ultimately was disappointed at the end.
I think that the filmmaker not only wanted to show who Mike Wallace was, but also what impact his style of journalism left on the profession, with some nods to our current post-fact world. Any of these topics on their own would have worked well, but putting them all together, makes the film somewhat incoherent.
I think that the filmmaker not only wanted to show who Mike Wallace was, but also what impact his style of journalism left on the profession, with some nods to our current post-fact world. Any of these topics on their own would have worked well, but putting them all together, makes the film somewhat incoherent.