2nd Chance

In 1969, bankrupt pizzeria owner Richard Davis invented the modern-day bulletproof vest. To prove that it worked, he shot himself 192 times. Davis then launched “Second Chance,” which became one of the largest body armor companies in the world. Charming and brash, he directed sensational marketing films, earning him celebrity status among police and gun owners across the country. But the death of a police officer wearing a Second Chance vest catalyzes Davis’s fall, revealing a man full of contradictions cultivated over decades of reckless lies. In his first documentary feature, Ramin Bahrani – a pillar of independent cinema, once acclaimed by Roger Ebert as the new great American director – portrays a man equally questionable and captivating, who saved thousands of lives while endangering exponentially more.