You've Been Trumped: Film Review

by John DeFore
http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/review/you-have-been-trumped-film-358193
August 3, 2012

The Bottom Line: Underdogs stand their ground in Anthony
Baxter's modest but revealing doc.

Opens Friday, Aug. 3

Director-Editor-Director of photography: Anthony Baxter

Conflicts remain unresolved in the saga of Donald
Trump's mammoth golf resort in Scotland.

Catching Donald Trump in instances of bullying and
mendacity that are brazen even by Trumpian standards,
Anthony Baxter's blood-boiling You've Been Trumped
chronicles the mogul's destruction of a beautiful
Scottish seaside to make way for what he gloats will be
the "world's best golf resort." The villain's
overpromoted brand name surely will help the film find
more viewers than the average David-vs.-Goliath doc.

Baxter, in his filmmaking debut, comes across as a local
who couldn't sit idly by as Trump steamrolled his
neighbors. He starts his film in 2010, after Trump's
billion-dollar plans for Aberdeenshire already have
cleared many hurdles: Rejected by local authorities and
environmental groups, the development eventually found
support in the Scottish government, which threatened to
force homeowners to sell generations-old homesteads.

Knowing colorful underdogs when he sees them, Baxter
spends time with a kindly old woman whose father was a
"prize plougher"; a music-industry vet whose history
with The Clash primes him for class conflict; and
Michael Forbes, the prickly farmer who becomes a symbol
of the unkempt working-class realities Trump intends to
wipe off the horizon. Forbes "lives like a pig," Trump
charmingly tells reporters, arguing that his "slumlike,
disgusting" farmhouse is so offensive to the views from
his planned hotel rooms that the government should force
him to vacate. (The tycoon also is offended by a
proposed offshore wind farm, but that's another matter.)

In the course of chronicling the struggle between
residents and developers, Baxter is himself bullied: His
pointed but polite questions are mocked at press
conferences; in one scene, police -- behaving more like
private security goons than public servants -- manhandle
him and put him under arrest for a few hours.

More galling is what happens to those who refuse to
leave their land: Water and electrical services are
sabotaged, bulldozers build mountains of earth to block
seaside views, and property is damaged and stolen, with
dubious boundary claims as justification.

STORY: Donald Trump Invited to View 'You've Been
Trumped' in Scottish Parliament

Baxter chooses not to put this years-long episode in a
wider context: Rather than comparing it to other
development controversies or interviewing the lawmakers
who've taken Trump's side, he uses recurring clips of
1983's Local Hero to (unnecessarily) drive home his
theme of wealth versus community. He also lacks finesse:
His snarky title and melodramatic use of sound effects
belie his efforts to let the realities of the story
speak for themselves.

But You've Been Trumped turns our attention to the ugly
truths behind a real estate empire's tacky gleam and
reminds us that, unlike the reality-show contestants
who'll do anything not to be "fired," not all those who
face Donald Trump's bullying have submitted to it
voluntarily.

Production Company: Montrose Pictures

Director-Editor-Director of photography: Anthony Baxter

Screenwriters: Richard Phinney, Anthony Baxter

Producer: Richard Phinney

Music: Jonny Pilcher, Jonsi, Sigur Ros

No rating, 100 minutes.

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