‘Soros’ documentary gets negative reviews

Most reviews say the movie is largely about his support of global human rights causes and portrays him in an almost exclusively favourable light

A new documentary about George Soros, made by someone who used to work for him, was released online Friday to less-than-positive reviews.

According to reviews, the movie is largely about Soros’ support of global human rights causes and portrays him in an almost exclusively favourable light. Critics have lamented that the movie is light on detail about Soros’ life and career.

If Soros’ charity “had a headquarters that offered tours, this is the film they’d have on continuous loop in the visitors’ centre,” read a review from Variety. The New York Times review said that, “even as hagiography, ‘Soros’ is unfocused; it races from topic to topic, with clips that seem arbitrary at best.”

Soros, 90, the Jewish Holocaust survivor and billionaire hedge fund manager, is known for his prolific giving to human rights groups and liberal causes around the world, and to Democratic politicians in the United States. He is most famous on Wall Street for his shorting of the British pound in the 1990s. In recent decades he has become a prime target of conservatives and right-wing activists, whose criticism of him often veers into conspiracy theory and antisemitic stereotypes that have inspired violent attacks.

The movie, called “Soros” and released in virtual cinemas, was made by Jesse Dylan, a former video producer for Soros’ Open Society Foundations who is also Bob Dylan’s son.