SXSW Film

Bulletproof Salesman

An armored car doesn't look all that different from a regular old SUV – until they're both shot to hell and only one is still intact. Likewise, Fidelis Cloer doesn't seem all that different from a regular old salesman. He makes cold calls like anyone else, keeps his fingernails clean, and trusts in his product so his customer can trust in him. But in Cloer's case, that trust means letting the customer shoot at him while he drives around on the streets of Baghdad – such is the life of a guy who sells armored vehicles. As Bulletproof Salesman follows Cloer on increasingly dangerous sales trips into Iraq, it tells a story somewhat about the strange business of war profiteering but more compellingly about the strange way of life on the streets of a war zone. But most strange of all is watching the passage of time through the passage of the term "bulletproof" itself. Eventually, when the war zone proves too dangerous even for Cloer, "bulletproof" seems quaint compared to the current, more ominous standard for safety: "blast-proof."