HBO’s The Man Will Burn Is Like a Glossy Four-Hour Infomercial

If you ever wanted to experience Burning Man from the comfort of your living room, The Man Will Burn is for you. If you think Burning Man is just a rich people’s playground and don’t want to waste your time, don’t. The Man Will Burn is a sophisticated PR piece for Burning Man wrapped up in a docuseries. Directed by Academy Award-nominated filmmakers Jehane Noujaim (The Vow) and Vikram Gandhi (Barry, Kumare), this documentary takes you behind the scenes of the administrative side of organizing the Burning Man arts festival in the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic. The four-episode docuseries also weaves in the origin story of Burning Man with the stories of seasoned “Burners” and first-time visitors to the iconic desert experience. The cinematography is stunning and beautifully captures what it’s like to be on “The Playa” (the city’s footprint). How do I know this? I went to Burning Man twice. The first time was in 2009, when I went with a camp from LA and performed at The Temple with a West African Dance troupe, and the second time I was recruited by a “glamour camp” as a chef and basically worked as an indentured servant. The film does a great job of giving a history of the original intention of this art festival, which began on a beach in the Bay Area and was created by: Harley DuBois, Larry Harvey, John Law, Michael Mikel, Crimson Rose, and Will Roger, and…