Nick Schager - Film review: Portrait of the Female Donald Trump
A disheartening reminder
that in-your-face criminal activity perpetrated by democratically elected
presidents isn’t merely the
province of Donald Trump, The Kingmaker details the
attempts of Imelda
Marcos, former first lady of the Philippines, to get her son Ferdinand
“Bongbong” Marcos Jr. elected vice president. It’s a mission complicated, of
course, by the fact that Imelda and her husband, the late president Ferdinand,
were as crooked and ruthless as they come, having bilked their country out of
billions for their own personal lavish-lifestyle gain from 1965 to 1986, and
also persecuted opponents (under the guise of anti-communist crackdowns)
through the institution of martial law. As Lauren
Greenfield’s sharply critical and deeply distressing documentary elucidates,
the past is never truly past, especially when the sins of the father are
allowed to go unpunished.
Greenfield’s film (in
theaters Nov. 8, following its Nov. 6 screening at the DOC NYC festival) is
bolstered by considerable access to Imelda, who at 90 years old, remains as
extravagant and entitled as ever, posing for the camera in a regal gown amidst
the many opulent works of art that decorate her apartment. The Picassos and
Michelangelos on her walls—which, we later learn, she’s deliberately hid from
investigators—are clear indications that, despite efforts to reclaim the vast
sums of money she and her husband stole from public coffers, Imelda continues
to profit from her misdeeds. She also remains repulsively haughty, handing out
cash to the poor in a show of kindness that comes off as from-on-high
condescension, and casually ignoring an employee who’s cleaning up the
broken-glass mess she’s made by knocking over a picture during an on-camera
interview....
https://www.thedailybeast.com/the-kingmaker-a-scathing-portrait-of-the-female-donald-trump-imelda-marcos-of-the-philippines?ref=scroll