The documentary "William S. Burroughs: A Man Within" proves that Peter Weller has starred in other movies except for "Robocop," namely "Naked Lunch" which is based on the works and life of William S. Burroughs.(Weller also narrates this documentary.) And what has this insight have to do with anything except showing off my movie knowledge? Well, it shows that just as actors perform many roles in their careers, on a less literal note, other artists have more than one role in life and that is especially true for Burroughs, who is mostly known for the provocative fiction he wrote. But as this fine documentary shows, he was much more complicated than that with diverse interests, proving him to be a true individual, full of contradictions, fighting against the conformity of modern life. First, a lot of his writing, especially "Naked Lunch" and "Junkie" was about his experience with drugs. So much so, that a friend of mine and I agreed that you might just have to be on heroin to understand a lot of it.(Not a good reason to do drugs by the way.) Instead, listen to his spoken word recordings, which are incredible with his distinct drawl being captured so well. On a personal level, along with drugs, there were the guns and snakes which all could be thought of having death in common.(However, if I learned anything in Albuquerque, it is that sometimes snakes are our friends.) As the film details his relationships with other men, it is a little shakier on the subject of women, having shot his wife in a drunken incident which supposedly haunted him and spurned his literary career. I remember reading in a biography that any misogyny stemmed from his hatred of traditional feminity while Patti Smith, an androgynous rocker, testifies to their friendship. In the end, Burroughs was apparently quite the influence on not only literature but music, as many photos and interviews testify to, although somebody's going to have to explain the Leonardo DiCaprio photo one of these years.