Whether you love him or hate him, you have to admit that Donald J. Trump is currently a very relevant factor in America’s political future. One Nation Under Trump is self-described as “the first comprehensive feature documentary to delve into the zeitgeist of the unstoppable Donald Trump revolution.” I would, however, caution readers to take that description with a large grain of salt (even if you just stop halfway through the sentence). This film is basically an hour of video clips from Mr. Trump’s public speeches and interviews with a small amount of voiceover to tie them together, which leads me to suggest that the term “documentary” is a misnomer. As to background or supplemental info on the man himself, it includes a few comments about his childhood, but not much else. It’s also good to note that this was created before the three 2016 presidential debates and therefore does not include that material. I would therefore also suggest that the description of it being “comprehensive” is somewhat misleading as well.
So who among you may be considering watching/buying this? Perhaps you are a still-undecided voter and think that this may fill in some of the blanks left with the media coverage to date. Or maybe you are a teacher and planning on using it for a government or social studies class. Both of these groups should know that you can find most of the content on YouTube (and even more, as it leaves out certain essentials such as the debates.) If you are already a fan/supporter of Mr. Trump (or even if you aren’t but you consider him an interesting character) and want to see a documentary that gives a “behind closed doors” look into what makes him tick with things like interviews with school friends, business associates, and family, or rarely-seen photos/video that give a more complete picture of him, this is not such a film.
So who will be happy with this? Two groups:
- If you are a supporter who simply wants to add a lot of clips of Mr. Trump’s public appearances to your permanent library and don’t mind that that’s all there is to it, this might be a very good choice for you.
- If you want a good drinking game based on Mr. Trump’s favorite phrases, this is pretty perfect for 62 minutes of entertainment.
The film is currently available for free streaming to Amazon Prime members and is on Amazon Video for $2.99 rental/$9.99 purchase (currently it is not on Netflix or iTunes). It will be available on DVD on Amazon November 8 and is open for pre-orders now.
