DocumentaryYear2013Duration1h 21mIMDb6.3

Informant

Documentary

A documentary on radical left-wing activist turned FBI informant, Brandon Darby.

Trailer

Cast

Jamie Meltzer

Director

Brandon Darby

Self

SC

Scott Crow

Self

LF

Lisa Fithian

Self

Caroline Heldman

Self

MM

Michael May

Self

DH

David Hanners

Self

Rafael Siegel

Self - Government Official

MT

Michael T Stewart

Self - Venezuelan Army Captain

Jamie Meltzer

Writer

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Comments

10 Comments

OcéeeMay 29, 2023

source: Informant

VKAL692182May 23, 2023

Brandon Darby went to help in post-Katrina, and by all reports did a remarkable job, but once his superhero role necessarily evolved into a day-to-day grind of emptying sh** buckets, dealing with tourist activists and literally mending fences, he got bored. He tried to enlist the "real revolutionaries" but is soon disillusioned by them. He drops out. But then he drops back in, this time with the FBI. But it's still Brandon trying to be a superhero, and to do that he needs a few super villains. And so the downward spiral begins. What I found most fascinating is the fantasy that penetrates all of these people (right, left and law enforcement), how those fantasies can lead to disastrous consequences and how ego can rationalize it all. There's a certain tragedy in Brandon's very small progress of stabbing in the dark at what he believes is the enemy; in one case resulting in great good and in another, ruining lives, but he can't connect the dots. He can't see how he takes one side of an ambiguous coin today, and the other side tomorrow, all the while mistaking his waffling for insight. And few around him seem to get it either: the radicals and their fair trade coffee coops, or the law enforcement looking to make their conviction numbers and "do their part" in post-911 America. In the end, Brandon simply idealizes and does whatever he thinks will most impress those he's surrounded by at the moment, and the only conclusion I can draw from that is he's either easily manipulated or morally bankrupt.

Ayoub AjiadeeMay 23, 2023

A documentary on radical left-wing activist turned FBI informant, Brandon Darby. So, he started out with a group of anarchists in New Orleans, a group which helped set up clinics with Black Panthers. Darby was described by his colleagues as an "egomaniac" and "alpha dog" during this point... Somewhere along the way, the Panthers try to turn him on to multi-level marketing... and he goes to Venezuela where he is mixed up with the FARC. Upon his return, he goes from left-wing anarchist to right-wing anarchist (Tea Party). And then things get weird... Watching this, you have to wonder, is Darby a liar or exaggerator? Paranoid? A hero? Or someone who is simply an opportunist?

BAZAR CHICMay 23, 2023

This review contains what is considered "plot spoilers." Since this is a documentary of events that have happened, I consider the ending a foregone conclusion. This is a lower tier documentary. It is like someone describing a football game he was in while showing you pictures of the stadium and players when it was over. Brandon, a white guy from Texas, becomes appalled that white communities post Katrina formed groups of vigilantes patrolling their own neighborhoods. He doesn't trust government, so he opts to help the Ninth Ward district on his own, because as a private citizen he can do more than FEMA and the Red Cross combined. Brandon is clearly not a rocket scientist. There are topographic reasons while this lower district should not be rebuild, i.e. it won't stay above water much longer, but to many people it is home, even those without gills. Brandon attracts the attention of the FBI and agrees to play a snitch. He infiltrates a group of Austin anarchists who want to disrupt the GOP convention in St.Paul, a small group out of 1,000s of protestors. This group decides to cross the line on activism, something Brandon could have easily prevented being a role model, but he chose not to. Instead he allowed them to create a situation that needed to be stopped. Some call it patriotism, others call it entrapment. If a man starts a fire, then puts it out himself do we praise him as a firefighter or curse him for being an arson? Being outed, Brandon has screwed his life up so much that the only people who would talk to him was the Tea Party, which seemed to mesh with his intellect and desire to destroy government from the right instead of the left. Near the end of the feature,in the back ground on the radio, you hear the voice of Amy Goodman of the far left talking about the Brandon. I found the film rather boring because I am not Brandon Darby. Tea Party activists will hold this feature up as a triumph, while progressives will find it comical.

Anastasia HlaleleMay 23, 2023

I think the message of this movie is lost in the left/right side-taking that many viewers will feel the need to take. Above it all is Darby's simple aspirations to help people and do the right thing, which is transcendent to any side and is the side everyone should take. Unfortunately this makes him a complex character in a world that likes to take sides and trumpet ideals to the detriment of undeserving and unawares people. He did the right thing for Robert King Wilkerson by going back and fighting for his survival, and tried to help people by creating the Common Ground foundation and rebuilding a divided community. His activism was fueled by anger from the neglect of the Federal government's lack of response to the Katrina disaster, and his flair for radical protest was egged on by an ambitious ego that wanted to do more than the average man. He may have stoked a fire that caused a couple of kids to try to do something violent to make a message, but he did the right thing by trying to stop it. I can't think of one liberal that would be willing to put themselves in one of those cars that could have caught fire and maimed or killed them. While it may be frustrating to try to pin down a guy that seems to be playing both sides, he's really taking the higher road by refusing to be a part of a violent protest and disrupt it. As negligent and profiteering as the right-wing power is today, harming innocent people and destroying collateral property is not the answer and only strengthen's the power's resolve to suppress it. Brandon was right to fight against the powers-that-be that contributed to the mess in Katrina and other suppressive powers, but he was more right to stand in the way of violent protesters who felt innocent people getting harmed or their property damaged justified the means to the end. While I feel he hasn't gotten deep enough into the right-wing to see their corruption and the misguided souls (much like the left) of many of their followers, I do believe him when he says his ultimate motivation is to help people and do the right thing, which is evidenced when he left the FBI due to their negligence, and he just may leave his own party when he realizes they can't live up to his two simple ideals of doing the right thing and helping people, which is something we all should be living up to. That's what our common ground should be.

yeabsiraMay 23, 2023

...to become their next anti terror wins. This brandon guy is a disgusting rat. At first I felt lots of hope seeing guys like this making a change in LA during Katrina. Brandon's facade quickly fell as he showed how quickly his "morals" and self worth went down the drain when he realized he'd never be as important as he wanted in the anarchist community. The anarchist community doesn't have room for egomaniacs, but the FBI will let you be someone special and pat you on the back as you set up young kids by pressuring them to make bombs and commit violent actions. Had Brandon not been in their life, this just may not have happened. They looked up to him as he told them not to be "pussies". All in all, excellent movie, but what a lowlife.

Ashley KolokoMay 23, 2023

OK, it is clear from the very beginning this guy may just be one of the biggest B.S.er's on the Planet. Brandon Darby is the proto-typical teenage middle class white kid who runs away from home wearing his Che Guevara T-shirt and falls for every "revolutionary", damn the man, cause that comes down the pipe. He is arrogant, aggressive, thinks he knows better than everybody else and then finds himself in a world where he realizes that he know very little. The problem with this guys "stories" (whether some of them are true or untrue) is he is the same figure that makes up most left wing radicals. They just want attention and will seek out every cause on the planet until they find one they can make a name, and hopefully fame and money from. My guess is that most of these crazy activist leftist groups saw this dude for who he was....a B.S. er. and when he couldn't become that star he became an informant. He became an informant because he was just seeking some sort of "exciting" life. He really could care less about anyone else. The kids who got busted for the molotav cocktails deserved to get busted. They say they had no intention of using them, but why then create them at all? One said he didn't know just making them was a crime...Ignorance is no excuse and its an incendiary device, what kind of idiot thinks thats OK? Either way, Brandon, David, and anyone involved are all self absorbed idiots. Which pains me to give it a 7, but just because I don't like the people involved doesn't mean it's not a decent film. All-in-all this just shows the loopy extreme left-wing and how they prey on young, white, middle class people, and many of them just grow out of that stage, but some just become pawns in this fake, "damn the man," fight they always create out of thin air. Teach your kids reality, when you see them wearing Che Guevara shirts, and joining activist groups, teach them some history so that they don't believe the revisionist history that the left tries to teach today.

user9769456390383Mar 2, 2023

source: Informant

Afia100Nov 22, 2022

This review contains what is considered "plot spoilers." Since this is a documentary of events that have happened, I consider the ending a foregone conclusion. This is a lower tier documentary. It is like someone describing a football game he was in while showing you pictures of the stadium and players when it was over. Brandon, a white guy from Texas, becomes appalled that white communities post Katrina formed groups of vigilantes patrolling their own neighborhoods. He doesn't trust government, so he opts to help the Ninth Ward district on his own, because as a private citizen he can do more than FEMA and the Red Cross combined. Brandon is clearly not a rocket scientist. There are topographic reasons while this lower district should not be rebuild, i.e. it won't stay above water much longer, but to many people it is home, even those without gills. Brandon attracts the attention of the FBI and agrees to play a snitch. He infiltrates a group of Austin anarchists who want to disrupt the GOP convention in St.Paul, a small group out of 1,000s of protestors. This group decides to cross the line on activism, something Brandon could have easily prevented being a role model, but he chose not to. Instead he allowed them to create a situation that needed to be stopped. Some call it patriotism, others call it entrapment. If a man starts a fire, then puts it out himself do we praise him as a firefighter or curse him for being an arson? Being outed, Brandon has screwed his life up so much that the only people who would talk to him was the Tea Party, which seemed to mesh with his intellect and desire to destroy government from the right instead of the left. Near the end of the feature,in the back ground on the radio, you hear the voice of Amy Goodman of the far left talking about the Brandon. I found the film rather boring because I am not Brandon Darby. Tea Party activists will hold this feature up as a triumph, while progressives will find it comical.

Lindiwe Veronica BokNov 22, 2022

Brandon Darby went to help in post-Katrina, and by all reports did a remarkable job, but once his superhero role necessarily evolved into a day-to-day grind of emptying sh** buckets, dealing with tourist activists and literally mending fences, he got bored. He tried to enlist the "real revolutionaries" but is soon disillusioned by them. He drops out. But then he drops back in, this time with the FBI. But it's still Brandon trying to be a superhero, and to do that he needs a few super villains. And so the downward spiral begins. What I found most fascinating is the fantasy that penetrates all of these people (right, left and law enforcement), how those fantasies can lead to disastrous consequences and how ego can rationalize it all. There's a certain tragedy in Brandon's very small progress of stabbing in the dark at what he believes is the enemy; in one case resulting in great good and in another, ruining lives, but he can't connect the dots. He can't see how he takes one side of an ambiguous coin today, and the other side tomorrow, all the while mistaking his waffling for insight. And few around him seem to get it either: the radicals and their fair trade coffee coops, or the law enforcement looking to make their conviction numbers and "do their part" in post-911 America. In the end, Brandon simply idealizes and does whatever he thinks will most impress those he's surrounded by at the moment, and the only conclusion I can draw from that is he's either easily manipulated or morally bankrupt.

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