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The Kingmaker (2019)
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Documentary about the life of Imelda Marcos, the former first lady of the Philippines whose...
Awix (3310 KP) rated The Kingmaker (2019) in Movies
Dec 18, 2019
'When they searched my closet, they found no skeletons, only beautiful shoes,' declares Imelda Marcos (subject of this documentary), displaying a somewhat inconsistent level of self-awareness. For many people in the west, Mrs Marcos is only the punchline to jokes about her shoe collection: this documentary gives the full story of her life, especially in the present day. We see her making her stately progress about Manila, occasionally pausing to literally throw money at the poor people she encounters.
Much of the movie concerns Mrs Marcos holding forth on her achievements as mother of the world, bringer of world peace, ender of the cold war (and so on), intercut with other people with perhaps a stronger grip on reality pointing out what actually went on. Intended criticisms just ping off Mrs Marcos' elephantine self-regard; the effect is blackly comic more than anything else. But the film moves on to consider her attempts to make her son president of the Philippines, with all the re-writing of history and political corruption this entails: it seems the world may hear from her again. Intelligently made, eye-openingly weird, ultimately rather chilling.
Much of the movie concerns Mrs Marcos holding forth on her achievements as mother of the world, bringer of world peace, ender of the cold war (and so on), intercut with other people with perhaps a stronger grip on reality pointing out what actually went on. Intended criticisms just ping off Mrs Marcos' elephantine self-regard; the effect is blackly comic more than anything else. But the film moves on to consider her attempts to make her son president of the Philippines, with all the re-writing of history and political corruption this entails: it seems the world may hear from her again. Intelligently made, eye-openingly weird, ultimately rather chilling.
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