Film
You've Been Trumped
A Scottish community fights a celebrity billionaire's golf resort development on their doorstep. This is a portrait of resistance against wealth and power, shot with dry Scottish wit and genuine stakes. It's for anyone who's watched democracy lose to money and wondered what fighting back actually looks like.
If you liked this
The Muppets Take Manhattan1984
Avi Lewis and Naomi Klein document Argentine workers seizing their factories after economic collapse. It's organized, inspiring resistance to corporate power, shot with intimacy and moral clarity.
But Overtly political documentary that doesn't pretend to neutrality. The production is occasionally rough and the pacing can drag in the middle sections.
Winnebago Man2010
Ben Steinbauer tracks down the guy behind the internet's most infamous viral rant. It's unexpectedly tender, funny, and asks what we owe the people we laugh at online.
But Quieter and more intimate than you might expect. If you want fireworks or celebrity takedowns, this goes somewhere sadder and more human.
The Queen of Versailles2012
A billionaire couple tries to build an obscene mega-mansion during the 2008 financial crisis. Lauren Greenfield captures grotesque ambition with darkly comic precision and genuine human contradiction.
But It's seductive watching wealth spiral toward humiliation. Some viewers find it borders on cruelty, and the family's likability fluctuates wildly.
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The Conformist1971
Both pivot on the question of when ordinary people become part of a corrupt system. Trump's resort isn't fascism, but the mechanics of power overwhelming individual resistance work similarly—one documentary argues it through narrative, one through pure form.
Bernardo Bertolucci's masterpiece follows a fascist assassin's moral descent in 1930s Italy. Formally gorgeous and philosophically rigorous—it's cinema as pure argument about complicity.
But Extremely slow and abstracted. The politics are the point, not plot. If you need narrative drive or recognizable heroes, this will feel impenetrable.
More like this (7)
Citizenfour2014
Laura Poitras documents Edward Snowden's exposure of mass surveillance. Tense, intelligent thriller-pacing for a documentary, with genuine stakes and moral weight throughout.
But Dense with technical detail that occasionally overwhelms narrative momentum. Requires sustained attention and prior familiarity with the basics helps considerably.
The Act of Killing2012
Joshua Oppenheimer asks Indonesian death-squad leaders to reenact their mass murders. Horrifying, fascinating, and structurally audacious—it gets at something documentaries rarely reach.
But Extremely difficult to watch. The subject matter is atrocity, and the film never softens that. Not entertainment, even in the broadest sense.
HyperNormalisation2016
Adam Curtis argues we've all accepted chaos as normal. Dense, essayistic, wildly ambitious in scope—a master class in documentary form used as argument and art.
But Deliberately contradictory and paranoid in tone. Curtis connects everything to everything; if you want linear argument or resolution, this will frustrate you.
The Trap2007
Adam Curtis on how game theory and rational choice doctrine have poisoned how we see human nature and politics. Intellectually exhilarating and genuinely angering.
But Equally dense and deliberately unsettling as HyperNormalisation. Requires active watching and rewards rewatching, which isn't everyone's idea of a good evening.
Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room2005
Alex Gibney tracks the rise and catastrophic fall of Enron with mounting momentum. It's a thriller about greed and fraud where you already know how it ends.
But Very focused on financial mechanics. If corporate malfeasance bores you, this stays in the weeds rather than reaching for larger meaning.
Stalker1979
Both concern ordinary people protecting something sacred from powerful outsiders. One is literal and Scottish, one is metaphysical and Russian, but the structure of resistance—and doubt—is identical.
Andrei Tarkovsky sends a man and woman into a mysterious zone to find a room that grants wishes. Hypnotic, meditative science fiction about desire, faith, and what we're actually looking for.
But Deliberately paced to test patience. The philosophy matters more than plot. Long takes of walking will bore you if you watch documentaries for facts rather than mood.
La Haine1995
Both are about communities with no institutional power fighting back against systems that own everything—one through property resistance, one through literal survival. Same engine, different fuel.
Mathieu Kassovitz follows three young men in a French banlieue over twenty-four hours after police brutality sparks unrest. Kinetic, funny, angry, and formally inventive—it's a masterpiece about marginalization.
But Stylistically baroque in ways that date it slightly. The film privileges aesthetic over narrative clarity, and casual cruelty between characters can feel unearned.
People
Cast
- Michael ForbesSelf
Donald TrumpSelf- Anthony BaxterSelf
- Sheila ForbesSelf
Directing
- Anthony BaxterDirector
Writing
- Anthony BaxterWriter
- Richard PhinneyWriter
Production
- Richard PhinneyProducer