Showing @ Cineworld, Edinburgh Tue 24 & Sat 28 Jun

Anthony Baxter / UK / 2014 / 98 mins

There is often a conflict in documentaries – how much weight does one give the technical skill of the filmmaker versus the emotional impact of the film? Anthony Baxter’s follow up to You’ve Been Trumped has some impressive cinematography and striking animation but the message it contains feels like a punch to the gut.

Scottish audiences have probably thought more than most about luxury golf resorts and their impact, but it is a growing issue. Baxter spends plenty of time catching up with Donald Trump‘s old Scots nemeses, but also broadens his scope to a group of Croatian activists fighting against a similar development at the UNESCO World Heritage Site of Dubrovnik, as well as visiting similar sites in China, Dubai and the United States. Despite describing Baxter’s previous film as a “failed documentary”, Trump himself even agrees to be interviewed this time round.

Baxter does his best to present both sides, but for the resort supporters – from the petulant mayor of Dubrovnik to the heavy-handed club owner to Trump himself – this is really just a case of “give ’em enough rope”. Science, truth, and public sympathy all seem to side with the opponents, but the sickening reality seems to be that money trumps (pardon the pun) democracy every time.

Showing as part of Edinburgh International Film Festival 2014