The Brink Exposes Global Racism Through the Charming Guise of Steve Bannon

Racism doesn’t always look like the Klu Klux Klan.  Sometimes it looks like an Uncle, cousin or neighbor down the street.

Sometimes it even looks like former Trump Administration Chief Strategist Steve Bannon.

When The Brink opens with a tour of this far-right politician in Auschwitz, you know that this is not going to be an ordinary documentary ride.  Forward to Fall of 2017, where we catch up with Bannon briefly reminiscing about being a controversial addition to the Trump campaign and admitting that he “hated every second” of being in The White House saying he “didn’t have the stomach for the job.”

I knew little to nothing about Steve Bannon and what I learned through the eyes of director Alyson Klayman is just like the Devil or a wolf in sheep’s clothing, he comes with charm, smiles and a cunning personality that will fool you if you let him.

Bannon appears to be very likable shaking hands, stopping to pose for photos and even seems impressively off put when a British female reporter “ripped him a new one” during a Good Morning Britain interview.  It’s almost as if he assumed because she was a woman he could charm her over to the dark side. Sound like someone else we know?

The most impressive, yet disturbing revelation is the fact Bannon literally is promoting racism on a global scale hijacking far-right conservatives in Italy, France and Sweden (to name a few) hawking sentimentality like “old school Christian democracy rooted in the European tradition” or consistently spouting  phrases like  “elites in our country” “economic nationalism”  and  “the movement.” Statements during multiple rallies where he confidently claims, “This country was bequeathed to us (meaning white people)” or when Judge Jeanine Pirro shouts “get a one way ticket back to where you came from if you don’t come over to right” make me afraid for the type of America our children will now have to navigate in.

We are introduced to folks like Sam Nunberg, who takes credit for getting Trump on Twitter.  I’ll just let that one sink in for a minute.  At the end of the day, for me,  I guess the most perplexing thing is that despite Trump raking Bannon over the coals in the media, Bannon continues to support and explained that the most valuable lesson he learned from POTUS is that “there is no bad media…the more they obsess, the better it is for you.”

Produced by former Bannon former employee Marie Therese Guirgis and directed by Alison Klayman, The Brink will leave you with a very different impression of the man we have become familiar with in the media.  A man who has a wicked sense of humor, cares deeply about his health, wears two shirts and most of all knows exactly what he’s doing and why. Magnolia Pictures releases this insightful, thought-provoking doc on March 29th.