The Hitch

2014, Biography  -   48 Comments
Ratings: 8.77/10 from 277 users.

Christopher Hitchens, journalist, author, contrarian, some might say literary badass, was known for throwing his intellect around and for taking some rather unpopular stands and if you hated him for that... well then he was just fine with it. But Hitchens' work had been featured in some highly respected publications and he was contributing editor at Vanity Fair. He was born in Portsmouth, England and as the story goes his mom said "if there's going to be an upper class in this country then Christopher is going to be in it."

So Hitchens went to a fancy private school, later studied at Oxford, started writing in the 70s and for a long time he was a staple of the left-wing media. But after 9/11 things started to change. Hitch supported the invasions of Iraq and Afghanistan and he took a stand against the so called liberal media. In fact he ended his twenty-year relationship with the magazine called The Nation because of it.

He moved to New York, took the political right and in his lifetime he fixed his devastating gaze on the likes of Henry Kissinger, the Clintons and even Mother Theresa. When he wrote about public figures and politics people listened, but his most lasting legacy may be his atheism. His most notable book on atheism is God Is Not Great: How Religion Poisons Everything. Christopher Hitchens died at a hospital in Houston, Texas on 15th of December, 2011. He ended his reign as perhaps the most articulate and contrarian intellectual of his generation.

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48 Comments / User Reviews

  1. LoudMusicWhenPeopleAreTalkingInDocsAreAwful

    the background music is so annoyingly loud!!!! I hate it.

  2. Marcus Anton

    I miss Hitch, we need another punishing intellect and well spoken individual to continue the struggle against ignorance.

  3. Dickard

    "How are you?"
    "Too early to tell..."
    Breaks my heart.

  4. bob

    It always bugged me how someone so rational could adopt such a dogmatic view of the Iraq war. The post 9/11 declaration of war was for groups of people involved in that terror incident or nations harboring people involved with 9/11... they said Iraq was doing exactly that, knowing it was untrue. Then got their "coalition of the willing" by stating to the UN that Iraq was making atomic bombs and WMD, which they also knew was untrue. If Hitch felt international law was a valid reason I can respectfully disagree. But he acted as an apologist after the fact. Once the initial lies were exposed continuing to pretend this was always about international law it fails to be a reason and becomes an excuse

  5. Jon Mac

    Could not watch it due to the bloody music, I'm off to youtube.
    theres too many things with the same problem

  6. Maxwell

    Great documentary. Was great seeing some of the same clips but also some new ones of Hitch. Gained insight into his personal life, which I had never delved in before. I loved the ending, where is solidifies his timelessness, in his capability to shape and effect the world.

  7. Devlin

    I thoroughly enjoyed the documentary but I sadly agree with others that Hitch lost himself post 9/11 he became this American imperialist sycophant who got sucked into the brainwash of American foreign policy.

  8. Alan

    I have enjoyed watching his YouTube videos and find him to be brilliant and witty. It was good hearing some of his background as well as troubling, I can't relate to what it must have been like to live with the suicide of your mom. I'm a Christian but have always appreciated the challenge he makes to faith and the need to resolve issues he raises. Their is today no other voice quite like Christopher Hitchens who could be so charming, quick-witted, good-natured and cutting.

  9. Norm M.

    Having read the bulk of comments here regarding this documentary on Hitchens, I think it's pretty clear how flawed human beings are. Perceptions are so uniquely personal. One can claim Hitchens is a monster, and another person sees him as a near saint. Many can nitpick the hell out of any phase of his life to either bolster his goodness or tear down his name.

    Critical people are often not sufficiently critical of themselves. They set different standards for others to attain. Whether Christopher was right about the Iraq war or not does not affect my view of him all that dramatically. Many men of logic make terrible conclusions and decisions. As Hitch said, we are flawed at the start. But, we are a work in progress. To me, what makes a great man (or woman) is someone who strives towards personal perfection, and makes the effort to guide their minds in the right direction using whatever means of reason and information that's at their disposal at the time.

    Say what you will about "the Hitch", his words and ideas will profoundly affect humanity for decades to come. This documentary is not perfect, but it does attempt to provide a glimpse into a man's very involved and complicated life. It would require a twenty-five part series in order to cover the topic sufficiently, I'm sure.

    Overall, this was a good documentary, and I hope someone picks up the torch and decides to make more of them.

  10. Brian

    People who commented on hitches support for the Iraq War labeling him a sell-out need to dig a little deeper on the reasons why he supported the war. He was in northern Iraq reporting on the Kurds for quite a while becoming close friends with many of them. The Kurds had been brutally repressed and even gassed by Saddam . It was the murder, and abuse of the kurds that legitimized removing Saddam for him. In an interview he stated something to the effect that the First president Bush and the American government made a mistake by not killing him in the first gulf war. Hitch was a warrior, for free speech, atheism, and the liberal way of life, to say he was anything less is garbage. His dedication, brilliance, fight, and courage will never again be matched by another journalist. The day he died the world got shittier.

  11. Hinda

    Such and amazing and touching documentary. He surely didn't "not go gentle into that good night".

  12. Larryfaso

    Hitch had a sublime intellect. He provoked such deep examinations of our cultural values. He gives me inspiration. I feel good about myself because I understood him.

  13. Tom brown

    Beautiful, respectful and inspirational in many ways.
    Thank you for this gift.

  14. Wayne

    What a great thinker and completely immune to the illogical arguments of the religious. The greatest weapons against stupidity is to think.

  15. realisticpessimist

    Great, great man. I may have disagreed with his politics, but I absorbed every word of his that I read or heard. Having only discovered his writings in the last 8 years or so I appreciated learning about his early life and career.
    Funny about him mentioning his immortality through youtube (I think I've watched them all), but this documentary I watched was through Vimeo .

  16. John Bocskay

    Great man, but this doc is a bit of a mess. The sound is all over the place, some of the music is jarring and gets in the way, some of the narration is garbled and barely audible, and I had to stop watching when we hear Bush's voice giving the justifications for the war minus the magic phrase weapons of "mass destruction", which suggests it was of a later, post-reality-slap vintage. To document Hitchens' embarrassing views about that war is one thing, but to pretend that he wasn't very wrong about a major part of the war rationale is entirely another. Maybe they cleared that up after the point at which I stopped watching, but it had too many other flaws to sit through. Two thumbs down.

  17. George Kanakaris

    God is not great , Hitchens was .On Iraq he was wrong however.

  18. peter paul

    the truth will out

  19. peter paul

    when he was alive he was a scumbag, and richard dawkins is another scumbag

    why cos they both knew who did 911

    1. yogi9644

      Peter Paul---got a little Catholic in you, eh? What Hitch knew is that Catholics invented anti-Semitism and provided the perfect foundation for the Holocaust. The Catholics may have, through Paul, intoned the idea that love of money is the root of all evil, but proved through their behavior that the root of all evil is the wicked satisfaction that comes from killing the amazing Jews and/or anyone else who has the good sense to disclaim false prophets.

      And any ex post facto insult posted on this board is comic.

    2. peter paul

      his crime is not to expose false prophets (...obviously)
      ... but to pin 9/11 on muzzies, when he definitely knew they don't have enough brains to pull a controlled demolition

  20. peter paul

    he was atheist which is absolutly fine, but he used that against islam with the 911 terror attack as prop and backup to attacking islam

    we put him right on 911, thats for sure, cos the freemasons (and he was one) did it


    1. Anar Musayev


  21. malta123

    Oh!....God, I didn’t want to comment, I’m too choked up, but in the end, I had to.

    Brilliantly articulate and brave to the end, a man for whom the bell tolled far too early.

    I have been permanently robbed of his consummate speaking skills
    and his vision.

  22. borntoread

    As a great admirer of Christopher Hitchens, even when not always agreeing with him, I was also waiting for someone to make a documentary about the talented and provocative author. I'm glad that you did so and hope it will encourage you to make more films...Thank you.

  23. RileyRampant

    way too much iraq apologia. would have liked to get a more balanced treatment of his whole career - the years at the nation were completely glossed over. i guess because they, against the later neocon phase, would have proven dissonant.

    he was certainly a gifted fellow.

  24. Jacky Montecinos

    Great man, great he says in the end, he can still be found on Youtube.

  25. Eric Lawson

    Great Documentary i have followed this man for a very long time .He has changed my life.His commentary and logic will be missed .Peace!!!

  26. Toya

    What an amazing story and human being. He (ironically)
    renews my faith in humanity. Well done Kristoffer Hellesmark.

  27. Paul

    Integrity and common sense a very rare combination .

  28. ROMO

    Hes the only person I really miss that I never met

    1. Norm_de_Plume

      Him and Aaliyah.

  29. Eric Lawson

    Well done!! A brilliant man he will he is missed !!!Changed this mans direction in Life !!!Thanks !!

  30. davidlfos

    Terrific film, superbly and tastefully sampled with enviable restraint. Thank you and thank you Hitch.

  31. bbbobb

    Thanks for putting together a good biography. Sorry to nitpick-- but when adding background music, it really should be MUCH quieter than the speaking voices. Also, the blank gaps and musical interludes could have been minimized.

  32. DrJack37

    Call this film not a bad try, but it's so overwrought it's funny. You're better off just hearing the man at YouTube.

  33. dekay49

    Hitchens should have stuck to his views on atheism. I lost all respect for him when he spoke in support of the United State's invasion of Iraq and Afghanistan. He also showed his complete and total ignorance in his faith of the medical industry by subjecting himself to chemotherapy, he died from that treatment, not the cancer...........

    1. Steve

      You should stick to your views on atheism as well.

    2. yourthegreatestalice@hotmail.c

      He died from pneumonia . Chemotherapy SAVED MY life.

  34. dirtyuncaberty

    You sold out over the Iraq war, you got sucked into American right/left politics which itself is a form of mental illness, just as war is madness. Maybe it just paid better not to s*it in someone else's nest. You abandoned the logic that got you respect. Maybe it was your colonial British heritage in your genealogy, who knows why. Even Jesus was wrong at least once Hitch, perhaps now is your chance to debate that with him.

  35. socratesuk

    A beautiful documentary, Hitchens always made a lot of good points and I certainly miss his presence. But as he says at the end he can still be found on Youtube.

  36. williamdais

    It is rare that you find a man as brilliant and as steadfast in pursuit of the truth as the Hitch. Discovering him was enough to renew my faith in the possibility that man is indeed still evolving, hopefully to a form resembling Mr. Hitchens.

    1. socratesuk

      Lovely words.

    2. Henry Lastname

      very well said, I too am very grateful for his wisdom and wit , intellect and pursuit of truth , 100% agree

    3. Toya

      My thoughts exactly :)

  37. bringmeredwine

    This was an engrossing story, because I found the man's life so interesting. The doc consists of archival footage depicting Christopher's school days, career, thoughts, and opinions, narrated in his own voice.
    Which is kind of eerie, because we know he's dead.
    The Hitch was a blunt, larger than life, adventurous, self- confident individual.
    He demonstrated emotions from devoted love and admiration for his mother; to utter repugnance and disdain for Mother Theresa.
    An interesting, hard-living individual and a force to be reckoned with, for sure.

  38. pwndecaf

    "What could be more agreeable?"

  39. spikebat

    Great documentary. A true character and a master of the art of debate. Recall that some responses to his death from some Christians were so hateful that he'd have been delighted!