In an amazing and unequaled film which tries to encompass Burning Man as an event, movement, culture, and tangent off the zeitgeist, Bonin shows how a unique, complex entity emerges (in proper post-modern style) from elements of 20th century counter/culture blended together by individuals and groups whose quirks and flaws at times contradict and threaten the creation they engender.
Spanning 20 years featuring unequaled access to seminal figures and archival footage, at times funny and often dryly ironic, D&I engages and dissects the people and groups who gestated and cultivate the movement.
If the subject was a corporation or political movement, this film would be nearly perfect. But Burning Man is something else and the 'leaders', the history even, of the event is not the event. The map, as it were, is not the territory, and without addressing the territory the film ultimately fails to address the life, spirit, and meaning of the festival.
Perhaps Bonin's ennui issuing from too much exposure to the politics and drama of the (self-proclaimed?) core individuals narrowed his focus to convincingly and at times devastatingly slicing open and pinning the objects at the expense of the subject.
Ultimately a very worth-while watch for burners, the burner-curious, and anyone interested in issues of culture, community, social (d)evolution, arts and, yes, parties.