I very much enjoyed this documentary, many interviewees who were dedicated to finding out who "mostly harmless" really shows that the hiking community is a hodgepodge of people. As per Max, the film had amazing scenes and shots of nature, and they don't show any graphic photos of Mostly Harmless's dead body. However, the main person who really started the whole internet fascination (Christie) seemed so hypocritical and holds a superiority complex that carries throughout the entire film. From being extremely controlling to flat out cyber bullying someone just because she saw them as a competitor in solving Vance's death, Christie almost ruined the entire documentary for me.
Christie gets very emotional when she thought she found who Mostly Harmless was, and puts up a "poor me" act after she basically organized an entire group to harass the moderator of Christie's previous Facebook group. The rest of the documentary is basically her weeping about poor ol' Vance and her dedication to his case while completely ignoring her own abusiveness towards those who wouldn't let her have full control of them and/or Vance's case.
Another thing to note that others have pointed out, several of the people interviewed were in such disbelief that this warm, soft spoken hiker was actually an abuser that they all but disregarded the evidence to mourn the death of someone they thought they knew from a few interactions. Christie herself states that Vance's death absolutely was not a suicide, nor did he abuse his previous girlfriends.
Internet sleuths themselves are extremely invasive towards people who they think are somehow related to whatever it is they are investigating, and Max's documentary shows that very well. "They Called Him Mostly Harmless" is definitely worth a watch if you can get passed how cringe Christie is. I'd certainly recommend it to friends in the future.
Christie gets very emotional when she thought she found who Mostly Harmless was, and puts up a "poor me" act after she basically organized an entire group to harass the moderator of Christie's previous Facebook group. The rest of the documentary is basically her weeping about poor ol' Vance and her dedication to his case while completely ignoring her own abusiveness towards those who wouldn't let her have full control of them and/or Vance's case.
Another thing to note that others have pointed out, several of the people interviewed were in such disbelief that this warm, soft spoken hiker was actually an abuser that they all but disregarded the evidence to mourn the death of someone they thought they knew from a few interactions. Christie herself states that Vance's death absolutely was not a suicide, nor did he abuse his previous girlfriends.
Internet sleuths themselves are extremely invasive towards people who they think are somehow related to whatever it is they are investigating, and Max's documentary shows that very well. "They Called Him Mostly Harmless" is definitely worth a watch if you can get passed how cringe Christie is. I'd certainly recommend it to friends in the future.