When it comes to the darker shades of Hersh's personality and pursuits, Poitras and Obenhaus tend to pull a Homer Simpson-style hedge retreat rather than probe deeper into the behavioral and psychological verdure.

You don't have to be a journalist to appreciate this terrific movie.

“In case anybody cares,” he tells his directors at one point, “this is becoming less and less fun.” Speak for yourself.

In a way, both Hersh and Poitras represent the best of America, being perfect avatars of its promise of liberty, and becoming the harshest critics of all the ways this experiment failed.