Who is Michael Ruppert and why has Chris Smith made a documentary, “Collapse,” about him?

The first question is easy: Ruppert is a freelance writer and former cop who insists that industrial civilization is on the brink of collapse. The second question is harder, since there seems to be no reason to devote a movie to the paranoid alarmist.

Besides, “Collapse” is boring. But what do you expect from a one-sided movie about a kook, who, at the time the film was shot, faced eviction from his home because he hadn’t paid the rent?

I know a seedy-looking guy who sometimes rides the 1 train with me. He just loves to mouth off with views similar to Ruppert’s. Hey, let’s make a movie about him!