Running with the Devil review: A deep dive into the wild and chaotic life of John McAfee

3/5

Story: In 2012, 52-year-old Florida native Gregory Faull is found dead after being shot at the back of his head at his home in Belize. His neighbour and software developer John McAfee becomes the person of interest. Instead of cooperating with the investigation, McAfee flees the country. He is joined by a journalist and a cameraman.

Review: Stories that are stranger than fiction and those that explore the dark and sinister side of humanity have found interest among audiences globally. Netflix has been tapping into this market for a while now with its ever-growing catalogue of true-crime documentaries. The streamer’s latest title, Running with the Devil: The Wild World of John McAfee is about one such controversial person and his unbelievable story. The subject of the documentary is John McAfee, the late computer programmer who is best known for developing the anti-virus software, McAfee. The makers rely on rare footage and interviews to present an interesting and gripping documentary that follows him from Belize to Guatemala and ends with his death in a Spanish jail.

The focus of the documentary is not on how McAfee developed the first commercial anti-virus software or how he became a billionaire. Instead, it portrays McAfee’s years on the run after he became a person of interest in the murder of his neighbour in Belize, a Caribbean country. Before he goes into hiding, he asks VICE journalist Rocco Castoro and cameraman Robert King to document him while on the run so that he could present his side of the story.

Running with the Devil, which can be divided into three parts, is presented with the help of the videos shot by King for an unreleased documentary. The first part is told through the perspectives of Castoro, King and McAfee’s then-girlfriend, Samantha Herrera. They stress how desperate McAfee was to flee Belize before being caught. This part highlights McAfee’s narcissism and his obsession with himself. He asks the two journalists to film him because “it’s dramatic” and, at one point, goes on to say that “Joker (DC comic character) is the best description of him”. King films them as they escape from Belize and enters Guatemala illegally. Though they get into some trouble in Guatemala, McAfee is deported back to the US.

Midway into the documentary, the viewers are introduced to Alex Cody Foster, a ghostwriter who was tasked with writing McAfee’s biography and who describes McAfee “as the most brilliant manipulative person who loved to control narratives”. Through Foster’s revelations, we get a sense of McAfee’s paranoia. McAfee believed that the Sinaloa cartel was against him, and the reason why he was being chased was because of the amount of information he possessed on the activities of the government. We also get a more intimate portrait of McAfee through Foster.

McAfee unsuccessfully sought the Liberation Party’s nomination for the post of the US president twice. But soon after, he was on the run again owing to tax evasion charges, and King returns to film him as he begins living on a boat with his then-wife Janice and a few security guards. The latter part of the documentary shows McAfee descending into more paranoia and delusional thinking fuelled by alcoholism and substance abuse, before eventually ending up in jail.

The manner in which director Charlie Russell has put together the story and fleshed out the details, keeps us hooked till the very end. It’s a story that can easily be adapted into a feature film or a TV series. The documentary also explores themes such as alcoholism, substance abuse, possession of arms, narcissism, and mental health. However, it falters in between due to inconsistency in pace. The documentary feels a bit stretched, especially in the second part, but the subsequent 30 minutes make up for it. A major portion of the documentary is told through the videos shot by King which are unedited and of low resolution.

Although McAfee was found dead in his prison cell hours after a court ruling that ordered his extradition to the US, there are several conspiracy theories surrounding the incident. Some even believe that he is still alive.

Verdict: The documentary gives a detailed insight into the life of a larger-than-life person who spent almost 10 years on the run. Some aspects of McAfee’s life are not explored much and brushed aside. Despite this, Running with the Devil makes for an engaging watch.