Steve Jobs was a complicated man. Heralded by many as a genius, Jobs was also (by almost universal consensus) a grade A bully — and these two conclusions were often held simultaneously by the very same people. The entrepreneurial Jobs is said to have changed the world with his relentless drive and intolerance for the mediocre — creating the personal digital age not once but again and again. But those demanding personal qualities also saw Jobs wreak emotional havoc on those around him, savaging people in outrageous fits of pique and frustration. Jobs biographers like Walter Isaacson
The Oscar-winning documentary filmmaker Alex Gibney falls deeply into this warts and all — and more warts — category. Gibney hardly has to decide which way he’ll portray Jobs: he simply talks to people who knew him, and lets their anecdotes tell the Jobs story. For those who didn’t get a look at Gibney’s clear-eyed portrait while it was in theaters, CNN is airing Steve Jobs: The Man In the Machine
