Trump: An American Dream (2017)

	Also Known As: -
	Year of first release: 2017
	Director: Barnaby Peel, Daniel Bogado, Natasha Zinni
	Actors: -
	Country: GB
	Genre: Documentary
	Conditions of visioning: 13-14.04.2018, VOD, 10" tablet screen.
Synopsis: From his twenties to the presidency, the story of businessman Donald Trump.
Review: As I don't watch TV, I love that Netflix proposes this kind of documentaries for me to learn more about such and such history period or character, as I would otherwise be too lazy to read a full book on the topic. Not being American nor interested into their rich people's lives, I know about Donald Trump only since a few month before he became president of the USA. For example I never noticed his cameo in Home Alone 2 and Zoolander! And now I know only about the controversies around him, his current life and politics. This Documentary was a good opportunity to catch up. It is British, thus proposes two-sided views, although in the end may have guided the user to conclude that the man is a moron. It is divided in the four following parts: E1 - Manhattan: about where he comes from, and how he followed his father's footsteps in real-estate but on a larger scale, by starting projects on the New York famous island. During this part I was surprised to learn how driven and ambitious he was from a very young age (in his twenties), taking on 100-million dollar projects. But I also learned how he would already then screw anybody for money and power. E2 - The Gambler: after some successes, he was getting bolder and buying casinos in Atlantic City which led him to a downward spiral, but was not worried by it. When your name is Trump there are always banks or Daddy to bail you out and small companies to screw over. There you learn about the cheating and lying aspects of the man, and he starts to use his catch-phrases like "fake news". E3 - Citizen Trump: a parallel is made between Trump and the main character in his favorite movie: Citizen Kane. What struck me is that both cases represent a pure American fascination, as hinted by the sub-title of this Documentary "An American Dream" and the original title foreseen for the movie "The American". The American people love those characters (to the point of electing them president) because they want to be them. In that episode I found that the Documentary didn't do its job properly, because it focuses too much on the big failures and says nothing about the rest of the man's business which must have been flourishing for him to stay afloat and popular after the times when he owed 3 billion dollars. E4 - Politics: after twice toying with the idea of being candidate in the 80's and 2000's, Trump is more and more involved in politics, in particular confronting Barrack Obama. I love the stinging public reply from Obama to Trump made in his presence, unfortunately this may have been the last straw that pushed him to the path we now know.
Rating: 6 /10