President Donald J Trump’s second swing into politics has already seen deportations, trade wars and a complete lack of remorse for a plane and helicopter crash that could have been prevented. Then there is the farcical inauguration itself, with more than a tilt towards oligarchy: tech billionaires placed front and centre, right in front of the new Trump cabinet. It’s a shitshow alright, and while I am still allowed to critique it, here are three classic film satires which seem to align with some of the orange oligarch’s values. All are as hilarious as they are chilling.
‘Citizen Kane’ (1941)
Orson Welles’ classic still makes the best films of all time lists, and is an undisputed masterpiece. The script is based on a real life dodgy politician, Hearst, whose thirst for power was seemingly infinite, and it still feels prescient, scrutinising and pastiching the career-hungry Charles Foster Kane, owner of press and prestige, whose rise to power is both horrible and yet inevitable. He”s a venal, narcissistic scumbag, with an ego to match his bank balance… Remind you of anyone?
The Candidate (1972)
This Academy Award winner, directed by Michael Ritchie, was a piercing satire on the general chaos and mismanagement on the American campaign trail, although, this time, not about the neo-fascism deployed by Republicans. The screenplay was written by Jeremy Larner, who was the speech writer for Senator Eugene McCarthy during his 1968 campaign for the Democratic presidential nomination. Redford excels as a charming, charismatic man who really doesn’t have a clue what’s going on, let alone any political nous. The last scene of him staring blankly at the camera with no clear plan says it all.
Bob Roberts (1992)
A very different approach can be found in writer/director Tim Robbins’ incendiary satire about the right-wing liar, Senator Bob Roberts, who uses the anti-progressive rhetoric of the fifties by inverting Bob Dylan lyrics. He himself portrays Roberts with a smirk and a sleazy folk singer style. Indeed, as with the clip above, he pastiches Dylan’s timeless Subterranean Homesick Blues, as well as the documentary Don’t Look Now. Robbins himself has said that Trump echoes Roberts’ particular brand of bigotry, and the brilliant soundtrack was never released, as Robbins feared it would be used out of context of the film. It’s a doozie, from start to finish.
Hit The North 