No stone unturned
Whether you prefer them unfiltered or reflective, political documentaries make compelling — and revelatory — viewing
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- Caroline Frost
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Veteran US investor Charlie Munger was celebrated as much for his philosophy as for his business sense. On the mixed fortunes of political figures, he once reflected, “They are never so bad you don’t live to want them back.” Sure enough, for many, the buffoon that was once “Dubya” is today elder statesman George W Bush. Now, as it’s looking likely that we’ll get to test Munger’s theory about Donald Trump, we can watch A Storm Foretold (Tuesday 10pm BBC4), a documentary about the former President’s ally, adviser and one-time casino trade lobbyist, Roger Stone. It’s eye-opening viewing. If you want to know how Trump got to the White House in 2016, or how his supporters stormed the Capitol in 2021, it’s all here.
A lot happens in 90 minutes, but then, as Stone tells us, “Saving Western civilisation is hard work.” Following Trump’s election, Stone was convicted of seven felonies and given a 40-month sentence, before his pardon by “the big man” who, he reveals, is obsessed with the film Sunset Boulevard. Go figure.
If there is someone who can match Trump for self-belief in the eye of a storm, it’s Stone, and one of them is prepared to be filmed having his hair dyed – so much spray!
Danish filmmaker Christoffer Guldbrandsen captures the lot. Along the way, he’s clearly charmed by Stone, until it seems he’s lost his subject to a rival film crew. How did this happen, he asks Stone’s aide. One word: money. But then the film-maker has a heart attack – included here by way of the CCTV at his gym – and Stone seems to show the impulses of a reasonable person in pulling Guldbrandsen back into the fold.
This means that he witnesses the extraordinary events of 6 January 2021 when, despite being the man who came up with Trump’s Stop the Steal campaign arguing that the presidential vote was rigged, Stone is thrown off the day’s list of speakers. While the warriors he has corralled storm the Capitol, Stone sits in his hotel room, nursing his snub and decides to quit town, literally and metaphorically. He’s last seen screaming into his phone that he’s going to get Trump impeached. As I say, there’s a lot going on.
Reagan and Thatcher pictured in 1987. Diana Walker/Getty Images
Compare this with a portrait of a bygone era: Thatcher and Reagan: a Very Special Relationship (available on iPlayer) is a two-part documentary that explores the pair’s alliance during the 1980s. Never mind their shared ideologies – free trade good, communism bad – it’s the human dynamic that’s fascinating.
Her assistant Cynthia “Crawfie” Crawford remembers a 1978 meeting between the pair and afterwards Thatcher telling her, “He has such a soft voice.” For Reagan’s part, his advisor reflects, “He was close to his mother, drawn to compelling women and in Margaret Thatcher he met one.” We learn how the strength of this connection was why the Berlin Wall came down. Equally fascinating were their disagreements over trade sanctions and the Falklands War.
These two docs are each revelatory in their own way. While A Special Relationship has the benefit of a longer lens, A Storm Foretold is shot on the fly, capturing Stone’s wavering moods and machinations in real time. It’s all access, not analysis, and when Guldbrandsen does ask questions, his subject is quick to remind him, “I don’t tell you how to make Danish films, don’t tell me about politics.”
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It’s a fair point, but it means we don’t have context, the lessons of time and distance, or that great educator, hindsight. What we have is a vital document of evidence when this extraordinary chapter of history comes to be written.
Authors
Caroline Frost
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