Political Documentaries That Tell Us How We Got Here.
Update: Melanie, a subscriber to the newsletter, reminded me that a new documentary is coming to Film Forum, and it’s about Roy Cohn, Trump’s mentor.
So if you happen to be in New York, stop by Film Forum. If not, I’m sure it will come to a streaming channel soon!
Where’s My Roy Cohn?
opening on september 20, 2019
One of the most controversial and influential American men of the 20th Century, Roy Cohn was a ruthless and unscrupulous lawyer and political power broker whose 28-year career ranged from acting as chief counsel to Senator Joseph McCarthy's Communist-hunting subcommittee to molding the career of a young Queens real estate developer named Donald Trump.
Boogie Man: The Lee Altwater Story (2008)
This is a prescient and illuminating documentary where actors connected to our present era made their first marks. Roger Stone, the Bush family, Manafort.
Lee Atwater was a precocious political operative who played a large role in winning campaigns for Republican candidates in the 80s and 90s, who died young, at the age of 40, from a brain tumor. Before his death, he expressed regret for his work of conning, tricking and lying to political opponents and voters alike. Confined to a wheelchair and unrecognizable, he wrote redemption letters to his opponents.
I first watched it after finding it randomly on a cable channel not knowing who Altwater was. The story of redemption at the end stayed with me all these years. His name came up recently in discussions connected to this administration.
Recently, I watched it again, and was shocked to see how both his tactics and former associates still dominate right-wing politics.
Get Me Roger Stone (2017)
If you haven’t watched this by now you must. It’s Roger Stone in all his grimy, putrid glory. Cynical, sociopathic and pro-Trump, his personality, tattoos and personal life make perfect sense an era when vulgarity, opportunism and cruelty are the norm. We only hope RICO is just around the corner, breathing at Stone’s, Manafort’s and Trump’s neck.
The Great Hack (2019)
The Great Hack describes the shadowy inner-workings of Cambridge Analytica, the data firm connected to the Trump election and their use of Psy-Ops manipulation of voters through the deceptive Facebook ads.
It features interviews of several former staffers and describes their role in Brexit, the Trump election and other elections in Africa and Latin-America. A must-see if you would like to understand what the hell happened with Trump and why his campaign was effective with a percentage of the population.