Few
documentary filmmakers have been granted such unprecedented access to or
possesses such keen insight into the world of the wealthy as American
photographer Lauren Greenfield. Between The Queen of Versailles which transformed
the story of Jackie and David Siegel’s financial turmoil amid the economic
downturn into a tragicomic fable debunking the American Dream and her Amazon
Prime documentary Generation Wealth
which further elaborated on the broad spectrum of wealth’s impact on our values
system, Greenfield has set herself apart from the pack by turning her cameras
unto opulence.
Now
comes the Showtime original documentary The
Kingmaker which finds Greenfield’s sights set on what is easily her most
electric subject yet: the mercurial and cunning First Lady of the Philippines,
Imelda Romualdez Marcos. Formerly
married to the late dictator Ferdinand Marcos of the Philippines, Imelda and
the Marcos regime quickly became infamous for defrauding the government, spending
the country into the ground and a myriad of corruption charges including
placing the country under martial law. The
level of extravagance enjoyed by Imelda Marcos was so extreme it coined the
adjective ‘Imeldific’ to describe excessive luxuriousness.
Coupled
with widespread rumors she and her husband were responsible for the
assassination of political opponent Benigno Aquino, Jr., the People Power
Revolution forced the Marcos’ into exile for years until the early 1990s. Despite facing an ocean of criminal charges
upon their return, the Marcos’ still managed to regain political power in the country. Despite a democratic election, many remain
concerned the Marcos family can and will inevitably attain a political
stronghold in the region with fears of martial law returning to the landscape.
With
all of this surrounding Imelda Marcos, a frequently unreliable narrator whose greed
remains unmatched and words still can’t fully be trusted, Greenfield and her
cameras zero in on the 90 year old politician who paints a picture of innocence
but whose avarice is as plain as day.
The resulting film is something like Lauren Greenfield’s General Idi Amin Dada: A Self Portrait,
positing viewers inches away from the subject, leaving no room for sympathy yet
providing a fascinating glimpse into what is ostensibly the heart of the Marcos
regime.
Visually
the documentary is well lensed by Lars Skree and Shana Hagan though it does
incorporate numerous preexisting sources of footage which vary in picture
quality from scene to scene. Kubrick
aficionados will recognize the name of composer Jocelyn Pook from Eyes Wide Shut and the mood provided
here is one of a sense of impending doom and dismay over the gross spectacle of
ill-gotten gains. Mostly, though, this
is Greenfield’s motion picture portrait of one of the world’s most powerful
women whose penchant for materialism and boundlessly strategic talent for lying
to save face remains unmatched. For
director Greenfield, The Kingmaker is
a bona fide knockout!
--Andrew Kotwicki