Gringo: The Dangerous Life of John McAfee

Frightening to see how this man could travel to a poor country and establish himself effectively as a feudal lord and apparently engage in extensive criminal activity and then walk away as if it was just a bad holiday. I think the best line in the documentary is that by a local who knew him and said "he is as crazy as bat-shit" and if you watch the documentary most people will agree. The most heart breaking portion of the documentary is the scenes with the father of the man he allegedly murdered talking about how helpless he feels seeing this guy walking around Scot-free and running for president in the US whilst his son is dead. Well worth a watch.

5/12/18. A good documentary about John McAfee, the namesake of the very popular antivirus software. Behind the scenes he was totally something else, spending his fortune on who knows what on the island of Belize. Through a series of interviews with those who were involved with him during his time in Belize he sure was involved with some sleazy people and strange behavior. In the end, he gets away with it all. Why? He's McAfee.

A documentary about John McAfee, the antivirus software creator, not really the thing I thought I would enjoy watching. But I did, as the documentary is very well made. Not only is it well made but the story itself is just extraordinary. The amount of people telling the vile stuff they did on camera just shows how stupid people can be in front of a camera just because they like the attention. John McAfee belongs in prison, without a doubt, but he has money and with money you get away with anything, especially in the USA. From the most famous antivirus creator of that time to an absolute paranoid schyzophrenic, you just have to see it to believe it. The least you can say is that John McAfee had a busy life. He surrounded himself with all kind of lowlifes and wannabe gangsters, just because he could buy anything with his money and because he's a big coward. Too much drugs made him completely paranoid, almost laughable how pathetic is life was and still is. The sexual act itself was not possible anymore, certainly because of his drug abuse, so he just hired pretty ugly (no pun intended) girls to poop in his mouth. How more of a loser can you be? Well done documentary that teaches another lesson that we money you can get away with anything.

This documentary about the life of John McAfee reminded me of the movie 'The Mosquito Coast'; a maverick, libertarian American travels to central America and becomes very strange. In the case of McAfee, who developed the world's first anti-virus computer software, said "strangeness" involves bizarre sexual practices, a permanent escort of armed guards, and allegations of rape and murder. Yet McAfee returned to the U.S. and an apparent life of contemporary respectability. Nanette's Burnstein's documentary isn't perfect: I don't think much of her interview technique, and she credits a failed bid for the Liberartarian Party of America's nomination for the U.S. presidency with rather more seriousness than it deserves. But it's still a compelling story, whose ending if foreshadowed very early on when we learn of the unconventional practices among the staff of the McAfee company from it's earliest days: those interviewed remember the competition to see who could get laid on their desktops most frequently with fondness, but it seems of a piece with McAfee's later, more disturbing behaviour. Overall, it's a lesson that too much money never really does anyone good; but it's even worse if you get in the way of the person who has it.

I have awarded 7 stars for sheer entertainment value. Despite some questions surrounding the authenticity of this documentary's sources the bottom line for me is that this movie hooked me from the start and held my interest from beginning to end. It's a disturbing look at the life of a rich man with questionable morals acting like he's king of his adopted foreign country.

Be warned, there are some disturbing scenes and topics discussed such as rape, and graphic descriptions of torture and murder. But if you can handle that I recommend this movie, I found it engrossing.