Praise for Carl Colby's THE MAN NOBODY KNEW
"CRITIC'S PICK! Carl Colby's smart, fact-packed film operates on many levels, all riveting. The director, William Colby's son, has assembled a rich, cohesive and balanced account of his father's legacy." - Andy Webster, The New York Times
" Vital. Sheds light...on a legacy of American skullduggery and high-level shenanigans. Its access and acknowledgment of our dark past make for one intimate indictment." -David Fear, Time Out NY
"With a respectful yet keen eye toward the moral pitfalls of patriotic duplicity, this remarkable feat of personalized biography, enhanced by a rich collection of archival clips, [is] both evocative and harrowing." -Robert Abele, Los Angeles Times
"Powerful. Shattering. An absorbing, sometimes appalling course in how U.S. foreign policy evolved and functioned following World War II, how CIA techniques failed in Vietnam, and how American power in Southeast Asia finally foundered."
-Joe Morgenstern, The Wall Street Journal
"Riveting. A decidedly different - and refreshing - take on spycraft. Even though it's a documentary, it plays like some of the best spy films. The questions posed are vital: What's the place of secrecy in an open society? Do the ends justify the means when the ends may include saving innocent lives and preserving freedom? The answers matter today especially." -John Meroney & Sean Coons, The Atlantic
"Carl Colby's compelling and thorough investigation transcends his personal catharsis to become an enduring treatise on how character flaws affect policy." -Aaron Hillis, Village Voice
"Challenges presumptions in polarizing times. A very personal examination of one of the 20th century's most accomplished yet opaque spymasters." - Ted Johnson, Variety
"Carl Colby's ambitious, decades-spanning film about his CIA spymaster father delves deeply into historical events William Colby helped to shape, from his OSS days during WWII and his extensive involvement in the Vietnam War to his whistle-blowing testimony before Congress. With several current political figures seen here in their younger incarnations, the pic's re-examination of covert actions seems particularly timely."
-Ronnie Scheib, Variety
"At its heart, the film is a poignant probing of an aloof and distant father who clearly excelled in compartmentalization, taking his family with him as he worked undercover at U.S. embassies. Did he ever really love his five children and Carl's loyal and elegant mother, who also appears in the film-or were they too all merely cover for a calculating super-spy?" -Maureen Orth, Vanity Fair
"Carl Colby probes into the true character of his mysterious father…unexpectedly evenhanded." - Kalvin Henely, Slant Magazine
"Fascinating… a notable success." - Richard Schickel, Truth Dig
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