Totally Under Control. (12A.)
Directed by Alex Gibney, Ophelia Harutyunyan and Suzanne Hillinger
Featuring Kathleen Sebelius, Francis Riedo, Scott Becker, Taison Bell and Rick Bright. In cinemas or available to stream. 124 mins.
Gibney is the hardest working man in documentary film making, knocking out on average two full-length documentaries a year. Never mind the quality, feel the width. I think you need to admire a man who gets things out there, but wonder perhaps whether he really gives himself time to fully research things: maybe his dash, is accompanied by an equal measure of slap.
For this project though, speed is of the essence. This is one of the first full-length films to be shot during the lockdown (it may be a dead heat between this and Borat 2) and its subject is the Trump Administration's mishandling of the pandemic. The situation affected how the film was made (we get shown the precautions taken filming each interview) but the resulting product isn't much different from any other Gibney film: it's a mixture of talking heads and stock footage. The heads are an impressive array of whistleblowers and experts.
As is the cliché of Coronavirus coverage South Korea is used as the model of how to do it. Fair enough, given their proximity to the outbreak and the superspreader incidents they've successfully faced down, but wouldn't it be nice once in a while to give some attention to other success stories outside of them and New Zealand? How about plucky little Taiwan which has had just 7 deaths despite being a densely populated country with over 23 million people? Especially impressive as the World Health Organisation seems to be ignoring its existence.
Given the speed of its execution, Totally Under Control, is an exemplary film, that gets across its story and ideas clearly and forcefully, with input from a wide range of relevant sources. As a film though it has one big problem: it's utterly predictable. All the problems, apart from an early hiccup with the testing kit, are down to the administration's pathological disdain for government and blind faith in the free market and big business. Oh that Trump, he's such a maverick, he's so unpredictable. Yes, but always in exactly the same way. To see a man shoot himself in the foot once has some appeal as a lurid spectacle. To watch him do it again and again in the belief that if he keeps doing it eventually it'll turn out right is a bit of a bore.
Directed by Alex Gibney, Ophelia Harutyunyan and Suzanne Hillinger
Featuring Kathleen Sebelius, Francis Riedo, Scott Becker, Taison Bell and Rick Bright. In cinemas or available to stream. 124 mins.
Gibney is the hardest working man in documentary film making, knocking out on average two full-length documentaries a year. Never mind the quality, feel the width. I think you need to admire a man who gets things out there, but wonder perhaps whether he really gives himself time to fully research things: maybe his dash, is accompanied by an equal measure of slap.
For this project though, speed is of the essence. This is one of the first full-length films to be shot during the lockdown (it may be a dead heat between this and Borat 2) and its subject is the Trump Administration's mishandling of the pandemic. The situation affected how the film was made (we get shown the precautions taken filming each interview) but the resulting product isn't much different from any other Gibney film: it's a mixture of talking heads and stock footage. The heads are an impressive array of whistleblowers and experts.
As is the cliché of Coronavirus coverage South Korea is used as the model of how to do it. Fair enough, given their proximity to the outbreak and the superspreader incidents they've successfully faced down, but wouldn't it be nice once in a while to give some attention to other success stories outside of them and New Zealand? How about plucky little Taiwan which has had just 7 deaths despite being a densely populated country with over 23 million people? Especially impressive as the World Health Organisation seems to be ignoring its existence.
Given the speed of its execution, Totally Under Control, is an exemplary film, that gets across its story and ideas clearly and forcefully, with input from a wide range of relevant sources. As a film though it has one big problem: it's utterly predictable. All the problems, apart from an early hiccup with the testing kit, are down to the administration's pathological disdain for government and blind faith in the free market and big business. Oh that Trump, he's such a maverick, he's so unpredictable. Yes, but always in exactly the same way. To see a man shoot himself in the foot once has some appeal as a lurid spectacle. To watch him do it again and again in the belief that if he keeps doing it eventually it'll turn out right is a bit of a bore.
