Why Ramin Bahrani chose to 'imprint the legend' of the bulletproof vest inventor in '2nd Chance'

One of the chapter titles of Ramin Bahrani's documentary "2nd Chance", which portrays the eccentric and controversial body armor inventor Richard Davis, is "Print the Legend", a line taken from the John Ford's American classic "The Man Who Killed Liberty Valance. Time and time again in the film, Bahrani probes Davis to find out the truth, to admit doubts or inflated stories into his life, to find him unwilling - or unable - to admit otherwise.

But rather than seeing Davis' frequent freezes as an obstacle, Bahrani, who made his documentary debut with "2nd Chance," saw it as an opportunity to embrace the Richard Davis mythos and unpack the contradictions of man and the America he influenced with his invention.

"There seemed to be opportunities to deal with someone stuck with genuine cognitive dissonance about who they are, what they've done, and the reality of what's happened in the past 20-30 years for him as a person," Bahrani told IndieWire. "In my head, when I went there, I thought he was going to talk about the mistakes he made, but he doesn't, so the shape of the movie inevitably changes because the character you're talking to doesn't don't want to stop going in that direction."

Related Related

Bahrani was approached by the team at the production company Vespucci to direct a feature-length narrative film about the life of Davis who, in the 1970s with his company Second Chance, found great success when he proved Body Armor Safety: First to incorporate Kevlar into body armor - shooting himself in the chest 192 times in his life. Given Bahrani's track record with docu-realistic films that struggle with the pursuit of the American dream (“Chop Shop,” “Man Push Cart”) and the sometimes corrupting influence of capitalism (“99 Homes”), it seemed be a perfect fit.

But he was eventually brought in to tell "2nd Chance" as a documentary (although a narrative feature with Bahrani involved could still be in the cards), simply because Davis' story was so rich in herself.

The images of Davis shooting himself in the chest are plentiful and never get old. "2nd Chance" also grapples with the dilemma that Davis invented body armor that saved countless lives but added to the country's militarization and arms race, putting countless others in danger. But the real depth and complexity of the documentary comes as Bahrani explores what made Davis a folk icon and cult figure in his heyday, only to discover that the threads Davis wove his whole life don't add up.

"I like to say that everything about Richard is contradictions which I thought were very rich. He was by turns obviously very inventive, very brave, and very brave to risk his own life for this device, which saves people, but the things around him that he did, they all seem to me like there was a way to explore his character and the state of the country throughout his journey," Bahrani said. "I don't didn't want to overdo it, but I felt it could potentially be a metaphor for the country in terms of the myths we believe in, which often stem from a lot of bloodshed and violence with these weapons. , and also unreliable storytellers to become leaders, to become leaders of a community and a company in this case, but potentially also of the country.”