Michael C. Ruppert was a well-known pundit, especially in online conspiracy theory communities, on CIA corruption, international politics, and energy and economic topics. Many of his ideas were controversial, provocative and emotionally-charged, and as such he offered a perfect personality to be explored in documentary format. And that’s exactly what VICE did late last year, visiting him at his new home in the Rocky Mountains to interview and film him for the documentary Apocalypse, Man, “an intimate portrait of a man convinced of the imminent collapse of the world, but with answers to how the human spirit can survive the impending apocalypse”.

The film was released in instalments on the VICE website earlier this year – I’ve embedded the first part at the bottom of this post, but to view them all and read the associated material, start with Part 1 at VICE and the rest will display automatically as you finish each part of the series.

Most people were first exposed to Michael C. Ruppert through the 2009 documentary, Collapse, directed by Chris Smith. Collapse was one of the scariest documentaries about our world and the fragile the state of our planet. It was also one of VICE’s favorite films from the past ten years. Michael was forced to leave the LAPD after claiming that the CIA was complicit in selling drugs across America, and he quickly became one of the most original and strident voices to talk about climate change, government corruption, and peak oil through his website, “From the Wilderness.” Following the release of Collapse, Michael’s personal life underwent something of a collapse itself and he paid off all his debts, left behind all his friends, and moved with his dog Rags to Colorado, planning to commit suicide.

Michael Ruppert did indeed end his life, last month on April 13.