Everything you need to know about the Elon Musk documentary Directed by a highly experienced filmmaker, it has already been criticized by the founder of Tesla and SpaceX

Recently in the United States, Musk was released — a documentary about the enormous influence of the founder of Tesla and SpaceX on American politics, exploring among other things his endorsement of Donald Trump during the 2024 presidential election campaign. The film runs nearly four hours and was presented out of competition at the most recent edition of the Venice Film Festival. Musk is directed by American filmmaker Alex Gibney, who in 2008 won the Oscar for Best Documentary Feature with Taxi to the Dark Side.

The documentary — which does not yet have a release date in Italy or other European countries — has been publicly criticized by Musk himself through a series of posts on X, his own social network: the film was described as a string of false information, while Gibney was called «bitter» and lacking «integrity». TikTok, YouTube, Facebook, and Instagram also initially refused to run the promotional trailer for Musk, deeming it political content.

What Musk by Alex Gibney is about

Musk traces the subject's life from his childhood in South Africa to the recent stock market listing of SpaceX, which took place last June and made him the first person to have an estimated net worth of over one trillion dollars. In the documentary, Gibney asks how Musk managed to accumulate so much power, and why institutions allowed him to do so: to answer this, the director alternates interviews with his ex-wives and former company associates with extensive archival footage.

According to Gibney and other experts, much of Musk's influence stems from Starlink, the satellite internet connectivity system operated by SpaceX: the service, for example, is essential for the operations and communications of Ukrainian armed forces in the war with Russia. Recent restrictions on Starlink in Ukraine — most likely the result of retaliatory action by the American administration against the country's government — demonstrate Musk's enormous power at a geopolitical level, as well as a commercial one. Finally, Gibney's documentary addresses Musk's controversial role within DOGE, the Department of Government Efficiency, a body that Trump created specifically for him with the goal of streamlining the country's administration through sweeping cuts to public spending — cuts that have been almost universally condemned as indiscriminate and unlawful.

Musk continues to curry favor with Trump and the Republican Party

A large portion of Gibney's documentary is devoted to Musk's political influence. The founder of Tesla and SpaceX donated over 270 million dollars (approximately 240 million euros) in the last quarter to various committees and organizations representing the Republican Party, ahead of the midterm elections to be held in the United States in early November, which will renew part of Congress.

Musk had stepped down from his role at DOGE in 2024 — after just a few months — sharply criticizing Trump and some of his legislative proposals, sparking a political controversy. The two have since reconciled, however: last May, Musk accompanied the American president on his diplomatic visit to China, and subsequently funded a program focused on mobilizing conservative voters — again with an eye to the midterm elections. As the New York Times notes, these latest initiatives bring the total contributions donated by Musk to the Republican cause between 2025 and 2026 to over 360 million dollars.