31 July 2013

Politic-A-Thon: You've Been Trumped Review

I think it's about time to talk about a documentary in the Politic-a-Thon and the first documentary I've chosen is one that hasn't received nearly as much attention as it should get and is probably the film that has made me the most angry in recent years, simply through the subject of the film, Donald Trump's golf course in Aberdeen.
The documentary concerns the attempts by the people of the Menie Estate to prevent their homes from being bought by Donald Trump for his golf course and the efforts made by Trump's people to force the people to sell the houses. After going through a lot of news concerning the Trump golf course, I was amazed to hear nothing but praise over how Trump would help the economy and how environmentally friendly the course would be. Watching the documentary you see just how much BS Trump was spewing. You see the sand dunes Trump said would be improve being flattened, you see economics professors from the London School of Economics saying that the figures Trump gives are heavily exaggerated. All of this makes you wonder how the Scottish politicians fell for all of the stuff Trump said if all of it was heavily exaggerated and the only thing I can think of is money, all the politicians fell for Trump's promise of massive tourism income from the golf course.

The best aspect of the film is that we see all the struggles the people of the Menie Estate went through in combating Trump, with the focus being on Michael Forbes, a farmer living on the Estate. Everything that happens to the people on the Estate is shocking, from mounds of dirt being piled up outside their houses to the threat of CPOs (Compulsory Purchase Orders) to Trump's people coming up to their property and saying that it isn't theirs and, in the worst example, cutting of Michael Forbes' water supply for a week through the work. Not even the director of the film, Anthony Baxter, is safe from the actions of Trump's people with him being arrested for, I think, disturbing the peace, which happens right after he confronts one of Trump's people about how long it will take for Forbes' water supply to be repaired. It is disgusting what Trump is doing and all his attempts to hide what he is doing and saying that all the people on the Estate support what he is doing is disgraceful. Every time that Trump appears on screen I got incredibly angry at just how big a liar he is and how so many people have fallen for his lies.

Overall, You've Been Trumped is an incredible documentary. It shows the side of the Trump golf course debate that the traditional media has kept quite and the fact that Trump didn't even respond to interview requests shows how little he cares both for the people of the Menie Estate and for the respect of Anthony Baxter and all the stuff after the BBC premiere of him saying he wasn't given a voice, despite turning down multiple interview requests from both Anthony Baxter and the BBC for a rebuttal following the films premiere show the acts of a desperate man trying to make sure no-one sees the true nature of what he's done.

My Rating: 5/5

P.S. If you want to watch the film for yourself, you can buy the film on DVD here.

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