Plot
THE CORPORATE COUP D'ÉTAT takes a complex political/historical theme and brings it to life. In the style of '13th', 'Manufacturing Consent', 'The Corporation', and 'All Governments Lie' it creates a powerful cinematic experience that explains how President Trump is the result of failed neoliberal globalist policies, and a 'corporate coup d'état' in which corporations and billionaires were able to gradually take control of the political process in the U.S. and elsewhere. In the words of Pulitzer Prize-winning author Chris Hedges: 'Donald Trump is not an anomaly. He is the grotesque visage of a collapsed democracy. The creeping corporate coup d'état that began 45 years ago is complete. It has destroyed the lives of tens of millions of Americans no longer able to find work that provides a living wage, cursed to live in chronic poverty.' Threaded through the film are the stories of the ultimate victims - working class and poor people in 'sacrifice zones' like Camden, New Jersey and Youngstown, Ohio. Many working-class whites voted twice for Barack Obama, in '08 and '12, but in 2016 they felt abandoned by the elites of both parties, and voted for Donald Trump who promised he would be different. Featuring Chris Hedges, the main 'voice' of the film as he visits Americans fighting for change and Canadian author John Ralston Saul, who warned prophetically in 1995: 'We are now in the midst of a coup d'état in slow motion. Democracy is weakening... corporatism is strengthening.'
Written by
N/A
Directed by
Fred Peabody
Crew
Production Countries
Germany, Finland, Canada
Production Companies
YLE, Téléfilm Canada, Ontario Creates, ZDF/Arte, Super Channel, Ventana Film, White Pine Pictures
Languages
English
Awards
2 nominations