WeWork: or the Making and Breaking of a $47 Billion Unicorn

Before we get to WeWork: or the Making and Breaking of a $47 Billion Unicorn, it would be interesting to define what a good documentary should be and how to rate it based on a scale of value. Most of the time, documentaries are either great films because they are so passionate about their subject and make the audience wonder about the world today, or they are too academic to be convincing, and above all they are too long and lack cohesion.

A good documentary must therefore know how to permanently capture the audience's attention, provide them with information that can be quickly assimilated and understood and, above all, lead them to ask themselves questions. WeWork: or the Making and Breaking of a $47 Billion Unicorn, discovered during the SXSW festival and to be broadcasted on April 2nd on Hulu in the United States, is fascinating as it shows how the credulity of some people can give life to companies burning millions before disappearing completely. Written and directed by Jed Rothstein, the film follows the evolution of WeWork, a real estate company headed by Adam Neumann, who was eventually forced to leave his own company.

This feature-length documentary cleverly explores the rise and fall of one of the biggest corporate flames and venture capital bubbles of recent years - the story of WeWork, and its hippie-messianic leader Adam Neumann. Using interviews with journalists, experts, former top employees, and former WeWork members, WeWork: or The Making and Breaking of a $47 Billion Unicorn takes a look at the ideal community and people first that skyrocketed the small co-working company into unicorn investment territory, and then investigates what was really happening behind the scenes. The constant is as exciting as it is alarming, and shows how behind the scenes is as exciting as what can happen in front of it.

This documentary, based on archival footage and several interviews, reveals Adam Neumann as a disreputable person who acted as the head of a cult, manipulating numerous people and creating a real empire in a highly calculated way before it collapsed piece by piece. We can therefore understand the absence of an interview with him in this documentary as the facts are overwhelming and show us once again that a good idea does not necessarily give a strong enough concept to create a company and make it an example to follow. While several companies have made their reputation by advocating a true art of living while selling products with very high margins (Apple comes to mind), this documentary proves to be not only fascinating but also indispensable to better understand the many dysfunctions of our current society.

WeWork: or the Making and Breaking of a $47 Billion Unicorn
Written and directed by Jed Rothstein
Produced by Ross Dinerstein
Co-Producer: Colin Frederick, Samuel Nalband, David Tomlin
Executive Producer: Jed Rothstein, Rebecca Evans, Ross Girard, Tim Lee, Michael Cho, Mimi Rode, Travis Collins, Kyle Kramer, Randall Lane, Danni Mynard
Starring Adam Neumann
Music by Jeremy Turner
Cinematography : Wolfgang Held
Edited by Samuel Nalband
Production companies : Campfire, Forbes Entertainment, Olive Hill Media
Distributed by Hulu
Release date : March 17, 2021 (SXSW), april 2 2021 (United States)
Running time : 104 minutes

Seen on March 15, 2021 (link to SXSW press screener)

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