Thomas Huchon's TRUMPING DEMOCRACY explains one way last year's election was won

"What if the election of the 45th President of the United States was not a fair fight?" That question, which begins the new documentary, TRUMPING DEMOCRACY, from fledgling French filmmaker Thomas Huchon, may sound like a somewhat obvious and already answered question -- until you realize that, in the world of Donald Trump of course, it is answered by: "It's a fair fight only if Donald Trump wins."

M. Huchon's answer to why this election was not a fair one is new to me and involves a family, its businesses and political philosophy, none of which I was fully aware. This proves both very interesting and very believable, too -- offering up evidence of enormous sums of money making their way into the campaign, some of them possibly illegal, fake news, data collection and "dark" Facebook posts. A Russian connection? Nope. Everything we see here is utterly American and as sleazy as it comes. How Trump-appropriate.

If only everything we see here had just come a lot sooner in the documentary. For whatever reason -- perhaps the need to somehow make this a full-length film (barely, in any case, as it runs but 69 minutes) -- young master Huchon (shown at right), who is affiliated with SPICEE, the popular French news network and investigative reporting outlet, has seen fit to make us sit through 20 minutes of information that has little to do with his main thesis and tells us literally nothing that those who followed closely this last Presidential election will not already know. TrustMovies was about ready to give up on the film, thank the distributor for sending the review copy, and explain that it was simply not worth his time or effort -- when -- at precisely 20 minutes, 20 seconds , I believe -- the movie kicks into action, big-time.

Prior to that we've sat through a bunch of preaching-to-the-already-converted that I doubt would change a single Trump fan's mind and will probably bore most non-Trumpers, who know all this information already. These 20 minutes are also accompanied by a somewhat tired and repetitive musical score that would seem more appropriate in a B-level action or slasher film.

And then, at that 20 minute point, we're introduced to a man named Robert Mercer (shown at top, above), his company's address, and a couple of businesses bent on helping the right wing take over the country, not only partially as has been the case for decades, but now totally, with the election of a fraudulent twat who makes even Italy's infamous ex-Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi, who served four shoddy terms, seem somehow a wiser choice.

From this point on the doc stays focused and, with some fine investigative reporting and interviews with intelligent talking heads (shown above and below), allows us to understand one way in which this pomposity known as Trump managed to win those three necessary states of Michigan, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin. The evidence here is firm and fairly astounding for those of us who knew nothing of what went on until now.

Further, Trumping Democracy makes a very good case for one way in which this happened, while leaving out other possible scenarios such as Voter Restriction. (Remember the recount, which was already paid for, but that was not allowed in any of those three states, thanks to the Republican powers-that-be in each?) But we've known about illegal Voter Restriction already; Huchon's evidence about Mr. Mercer and his history, fortune, daughter, and businesses (Breitbart News and Cambridge Analytica, are two of these), is new and worth seeing and hearing. As is the information about personal data collecting (and selling!) and yet another nasty Facebook feature known as the "dark post."

It all adds up and makes yet another addition to the many reasons why this election could be stolen -- along with the piss-poor candidacy of Hillary Clinton, and the DNC's foul sabotage of the Sanders campaign, which effectively deterred the youth vote from showing up at the polls and opposing Trump. There are plenty of reasons for America's seeming tilt toward fascism, but Huchon's doc offers yet another one that is very well worth considering.

Trumping Democracy, from Cinema Libre Studio and running 69 minutes (and, please, don't let those first 20 deter you!), is available for streaming now (on Amazon, Vimeo and elsewhere), and will arrive on DVD this coming Tuesday, December 5. Click here for more information.

All about anarchism in Tancrède Ramonet's fine French TV doc, NO GODS, NO MASTERS

As good an overview of and introduction to the ideas, philosophy and history of anarchism throughout much of our world over the century-plus that spanned 1840 until 1945, NO GODS, NO MASTERS (Ni dieu, ni maître, une histoire de l'anarchisme) is a thorough and eye-opening 160-minute documentary made for French and Swiss television that is now available in a two-disc, dubbed-for-English-speaking-audiences version from Icarus Films Home Video. This very necessary documentary is a singular treat, important in a number of ways.

The work of writer/ director Tancrède Ramonet, shown at left, the three-episode series tracks the history of anarchism throughout the world, western and eastern, via its various philosophies and the actions stemming from those ideas.

Many of us grew up with the idea planted in our collective head that anarchism stood only for violence and chaos and thus could never be allowed to take the upper hand. One of the great strengths of this documentary is how it demolishes that idea. Yes, violence was sometimes part of the anarchist plan but this was never, ever toward chaos. Instead, it was always with the idea of bringing the working class into the sphere of power and influence commensurate with justice.

This series may very well leave you feeling that Communism has utterly betrayed the very ideas and philosophy of the betterment of the working class that it constantly espoused and then undercut at almost every opportunity via its insistence on hierarchy coupled to abuse of power.

From Pierre Joseph Proudhon (above) -- said to be the only 19th Century revolutionary theorist to actually come from the working class -- to Prince Peter Kropotkin (the Libertarian Communist whose books on revolution and anarchy were translation into many languages) to Sacco and Vanzetti (below), the series covers the well-known to the not-so-known figures who carried anarchist ideas into the mainstream.

And, yes, these ideas were indeed mainstream during the 19th and even into the 20th centuries, which will probably come as much of a shock to some viewers, as it did to TrustMovies. Those ideas were then too-often co-opted by the Communists, and not only during and after the Russian revolution but especially during the revolution in Mexico and later in during the Spanish Civil War.

How all this happened is made clear by No Gods, No Masters in a forthright and entertaining manner. The documentary is so full of information that you will occasionally want or need to rewind a bit to hear something again. My biggest complaint about this English "translation" is that the original language has been "overlayed" or maybe over-dubbed in such a way that you can still hear the French, Spanish or Italian language being spoken underneath the English translation. This is unwieldy at best and actually makes it more difficult to fully understand the English, which should be louder on the soundtrack and the original language either much softer or maybe blotted out entirely. (I don't understand why English SDH subtitles were not provided, which would have solved both this problem, as well as making the series accessible to the non-hearing population.)

In any case, No Gods No Masters proves to be a combination of narration divided between a number of talking heads (historians and philosophers, one of whom is shown below) and archival photos and film (much of which I had not previously seen). The content of both narration and film is what keeps the series not merely afloat but deeply and consistently interesting, allowing us to see and understand how, as just about always since the Industrial Revolution, the proletariat has been kept in its place via Capitalism, assisted by government and either (or often both) the police or the military.

The manner in which anarchism insisted upon dispensing with religion and hierarchical power structure is at the core of the doc, and this is brought home time and again, in differing ways throughout. Anyone viewing this series can only think about, remember and despair at the constant struggle of the world's masses to share in the well-being that the rich and powerful continue to hoard.

Part One: The Passion for Destruction (1840-1906) details the history of the movement in the face of the Industrial Revolution, along with the various attitudes of anarchists that range from focusing on labor and the working man to violence and assassination, as capitalism grows ever more intent on destroying anything that stands in its way.

Part Two: Land and Freedom (1907-1921) focuses on the revolutions in Mexico and Russia, with a multitude of wonderful archival footage, and how Communism tried to supplant and finally destroy anarchism.

In Part Three: In Memory of the Vanquished (1922-1945) we watch this supplanting and destruction continue, as anarchism seems come apart, even while Communist movements around the world grow stronger. The Spanish Civil War, with its struggle between anarchists and Communists, is of particular note here.

M. Ramonet does not whitewash anarchism's tendency toward violence, but he offers a wealth of other information that gives a broader, deeper and more realistic picture of the movement, its goals, and its accomplishments. Nowhere are these accomplishments clearer than during the Spanish Civil war, when whole communities demonstrated that they could work and prosper without obeisance to hierarchy, religion or government control.

Overall, the documentary is hugely informative, and ought to provoke much thought and discussion from those who view it. It's a wonderful contribution to history, philosophy and, we hope, progress. It may also make you wonder if the very term anarchism, with all this word would seem to represent, was not the best choice for a progressive movement. Ah, well: water under the bridge at this point.

From Icarus Films Home Video, running two and one half hours, and complete with a set of Bonus Features that anyone who sees the documentary will want to additionally view, this two-disc set is available now for purchase (and, I hope somewhere, for rental). It is certainly a don't-miss video.

Agnès Varda's back, with JR in tow and maybe her most delightful doc yet: FACES PLACES

She is not only one of France's most sublime national treasures, but that of cinema, too, and her worth simply grows from film to film. Agnès Varda's latest -- and perhaps her last (she turns 90 next May, and both her general strength and eyesight seem to be slowly failing) -- turns out to be a lovely collaboration with a photographer and muralist who goes by the name of JR. (His moniker is not a nod to Dallas, I am guessing).

The collaboration turns out to be a near-perfect one, with the pair complementing and setting each other off in the most wonderful of ways. He (shown at left) is tall; she's short. She (shown below) is old; he's young. He is hugely private, never removing his dark glasses, while she could hardly be more transparent. And they're both so full of talent and creative juice that spending 90 minutes with them will seem as though you've died and gone directly to art/cinema/ photography/mural

heaven. Not to mention all the lovely people and animals you'll meet along the way. I don't think you will even need to have viewed other Varda pix to fully appreciate this one, for it bubbles along with such life, energy and good will that it rather dares you not to immediately fall in love with it, its creators and all the folk you meet within. (If you're new to Varda, I would suggest Cleo from 5 to 7 and The Gleaners and I for starters.) The more you've already seen of her films, however, the more you will understand and appreciate why this one seems maybe the culmination of all she has accomplished.

How does she do it, one wonders? By "it," I mean the ease by which she manages to connect all these people and the "art" they contribute here by simply allowing themselves to be filmed and photographed -- JR's amazing enlargements of the photos then being glued to their local buildings -- as well as by speaking with the filmmakers and sharing bits of their lives. All this coalesces into something simple and very pleasurable yet also somehow rich and profoundly humane.

As one of the interviewees mentions en route, "Art is supposed to surprise us, right?" Absolutely. Hence the surprise and delight we take in meeting everyone from the woman, above, who refuses to move out of her "condemned" row of old houses formerly occupied by French miners (she was a miner's wife)

to the flock of goats we meet, along with the folk who raise them. Some goats no longer have horns; the how and why of this is explored quite interestingly, with no judgment made but nonetheless giving us the information we need to make our own.

Then there are the wives of the dockworkers whom we meet and get to know just a bit, before their images (at left) are attached to the huge containers that the workers must fill and empty. We go from towns to countryside to the Louvre (through which JR pushes Varda in her wheelchair, as an homage to Godard's running-through-the-Louvre scene in Bande à part.

She still rather worships Godard (foolishly, in my estimation, for she is twice the filmmaker that this over-rated, misogynistic pretension-artist usually is). Varda and JR go to Godard's "new house" for breakfast, and his response should not surprise anyone who follows the man's films.

Among some genuinely precious moments here are a look at a town's "bell ringer," the worker in a salt factory who tries to keep the place "accident-free," and the dear old (and now deceased) friend of Varda, Guy Bourdin, whom we see as a young man who was Varda's model. How Bourdin's youth becomes very briefly immortalized, below, is wonderful, strange and sad.

The final gift that these filmmakers offer each other at film's end is so take-your-breath-away perfect that Faces Places (Visages, villages in the original French) immediately becomes a movie that, like all of Varda's work, you'll want and need to view again.

From Cohen Media Group and running just 90 minutes, opens theatrically this Friday, October 6, in New York City at the Lincoln Plaza Cinema, and on October 13 in Los Angeles at Laemmle's Playhouse 7 and Royal theaters. Elsewhere. Yes, nationwide, in limited release, but I have not found a link to the list of theaters, as yet....

AGNES VARDA: FROM HERE TO THERE screens free tomorrow at the FSLC and plays the SundanceNOW DOC Club in June

What is it that makes little Agnès Varda (below) such a nonstop delight? This whirlwind of energy and ideas and connections -- filmmaker, documentarian, artist, raconteur and widow of another fine filmmaker, Jacques Demy -- has a (relatively) new series of documentaries, made for and shown on French television back in 2011, and titled AGNES VARDA: From Here to There (Agnès Varda: de ci de là).

This utterly charming, nonstop fascinating series of five separate episodes, each running 45 minutes, will make its New York City debut tomorrow (Saturday. May 31) at and courtesy of the Film Society of Lincoln Center at 6pm in the Film Center Amphitheater, where it will screen free of charge. Tickets will be distributed one hour prior to performance time at the Elinor Bunin Munroe Film Center, only one ticket per person, and you can expect a line to form somewhat early. (If you miss its FSLC screening or live elsewhere around our huge country, the series will begin showing on the SundanceNOW DOC Club in June -- the best reason I can imagine to join this excellent documentary content provider.)

TrustMovies expected to watch only a couple of the five episodes before covering the series, but no --  that was not to be. Each segment is so accomplished and riveting in its quiet and unshowy manner, as it brings you up-close-and-personal to various artists, filmmakers and friends of Ms Varda that I couldn't wait to get to the next episode. In fact, I decided that there could not be a better way to start my day with with this series, so I watched one every day earlier this week with my morning coffee and oats. Each 45 minutes held me rapt and left me feeling terrific -- eager to begin my day. How much more can you ask of a documentary?

Varda's secret, I am guessing, is simply a matter of taste -- her own good taste and willingness to look at and be challenged by most anything/everything she views. The connections she makes are significant, and though I was unaware of most of the artists she covers, their work proved so interesting that there was not one I wasn't pleased to have brought to my attention.

In episode one, she tackles Chris Marker, and, as usual, anyone who tried this, vis-a-vis the late filmmaker, comes a cropper. As much as I love Marker's work, the man himself was so bent on keeping as much of himself and his own personality out of view that Agnès can only play around a bit to little avail (she does some cute things with Marker's cats) and then we move on.

Soon we're in Nantes with Anouk Aimée and Michel Piccoli for a celebration of M. Demy. Then we meet many more artists even more interesting than the mysterious Mr. Marker, though their work may be less so. We see collage, installations, singers, painters.  "I wonder what happened before that?" Varda remarks of a photo (above) we're just then viewing. And then she shows us an entire "before" video of these same people. She's such a little devil!

Manoel de Oliveira, whose Gebo and the Shadow only just opened here, turns up in this episode, too, telling us that "Reality is a dramatization organized by society." Interesting. He also notes that "Solitude is something I have no experience with," and then does a fine Charlie Chaplin impersonation and some splendid fencing (below), using his cane. What a guy! (What an 102-year-old guy! At the time, actually: he's now 105.)

Episode two takes us to Brazil, Brussles, Stockholm and Venice. In a Brazilian gift shop, Varda notes all the work on display and remarks, "You get a lot of hope for five Euros." We see again some of her marvelous work from The Beaches of Agnes. And then it's off to Brussles for a Magritte celebration! A highlight here is the woman journalist who comes to interview Varda. She is bald. Of course Agnès wants to know more about this, and so turns the tables and interviews her.

Episode three takes us to Basel, Cologne and St. Petersburg, where we see an igloo made of huge stones and then cathedral made of dried but quite edible pasta. Agnes eats it, with a bit of grated German cheese. There are potato images galore (above and below: that's Varda in a potato suit with the late Jonas Mekas). If she occasionally tells us things we either already know or could easily figure out (looking out at a city, she says, "Hundreds of thousands of people I don't know, and they all have their lives." Well, yes.), more often she'll come up with something swift, smart and fun.

Artist Christian Boltanski notes that "We all have our own dead child still inside us" (his morphing self-portrait goes from adult back to child). His wife, Annette Messager, is also an artist, whose work is perhaps even more interesting than that of her spouse. The two discuss their living situation in a sensible, thoughtful way, coming to terms with why we love who (or what) we do.

Episode Four takes us to Lyon for a 2009 art event. We begin with the Chinese and move on to Mr. Button, (Varda, above, has given that name to this artist she love). Then Varda returns to La Pointe Courte (the eponymous site of her first full-length film) and meets some of the men who played extras in that film, now fifty years later! We meet Jean-Louis Trintignant (below) and hear that famous actor read poetry and then speak quietly with Varda. We learn about fishing, too, and some odd facts: "Did you know that 90% of all fish are caught dead?"

The final episode takes us to Mexico, where the huge difference between the classes registers strongly. To Varda's credit, she bites the hand that feeds her (literally) by contrasting the enormous breakfast spread of food she is offered with the beggars and street vendors outside the four-star hotel where she is being housed by the film society that invited her there. The art we see is wondrous, however, and we also get a very interesting interview with Carlos Reygadas and a visit to Frida Kahlo's home.

The above are my highlights; you'll have your own. If you're already a Varda fan, you'll do whatever it takes to see this series. If you're new to the woman, this series -- from The Cinema Guild and running a total of three hours and 45 minutes -- is a fine place to make her acquaintance.

Nicolas Philibert's LA MAISON DE LA RADIO Who knew French radio was so much fun?

The name Nicolas Philibert rang a small bell with me, but until I looked him up I didn't realize he was the filmmaker who gave us one of the best-ever explorations of children and education, To Be and To Have, along with other worthwhile documentaries such as Nénette. He's back this coming week with a new film that is so different from those other two that all I could find in common was an extraordinarily talented documentarian behind the camera.

LA MAISON DE LA RADIO, which translates roughly to Radio House, takes us into Radio France (that huge, oval building, above), a cultural institution much loved by French men and women and something like, according to the press materials for the film, that nation's equivalent our own NPR or the Brits' BBC. But how do you make a visual film about radio, particularly when the language here is French, and which, if you do not speak and understand it, you will have to be reading sub-titles throughout?

Damned if M. Philibert, shown at left, hasn't done it. And interestingly enough, the film I thought of almost immediately as I was watching this one is the current indie hit In a World..., in which another very talented filmmaker, Lake Bell, gets us enormously interested in the importance of the aural: sound, speech, projection and pronunciation. Almost at the start of Philibert's film, an older female Radio France employee offer a very good critiques on a cub reporter's news story -- from all sorts of angles -- and we come back again to more of this critique as the movie progresses.

Of course, if we spoke and understood French, we could better appreciate other critiques throughout the movie, yet this is the least of it. What shines through is Philibert's own appreciation of the many employees of the company and how they do their various jobs and handle the many "guests" -- singers, musicians (wait till you see the xylophone players!), authors -- as well as everything from news reports to quiz shows and a late-night radio call-in program, France Bleu.

You'll find yourself chuckling often and occasionally laughing aloud at some of what goes on here. It's the most horrifying new reports -- more bodies found in a local river, one million dead sardines off the coast of California (or is it actually anchovies?) -- that brings out the biggest laughs from the employees like the woman pictured above. Clearly, black humor reigns where daily news in concerned. It would have to.

All along the way, the filmmaker includes charming visuals whenever possible: from cars in the garage to umbrellas opened up on a rainy day; deserted hallways to cubby holes for mail. Musicians range from rap singers to a gorgeous sounding choral ensemble, news of the day covers everything from those bodies in that river to traffic and shipping news to Egyptians protesting in Tahrir Square.

We only get bits and pieces of any of the cultural programs, yet the little we hear indicates a fine intelligence and intellectual curiosity at work. The movie appears to include but 24 hours in the life of this fabled radio house, but I suspect the filmmaker spent many more days to get all that he's garnered, then trimmed it down to its just-about-right, 100-minute running time. Whatever: The people you'll meet here (that's the fellow in charge of all the music, below, and another who handle books and culture at bottom) and the things you'll see and learn will surprise you and probably stay with you longer than you'd imagine.

La Maison de la Radio -- from Kino Lorber -- opens its U.S. theatrical premiere with a two-week run at New York City's Film Forum beginning this Wednesday, September 4. October and November will see the film reach at least four more cities. You can check all currently scheduled playdates, cities and theaters by clicking here and then scrolling down.

Personal appearances: Filmmaker Nicolas Philibert will appear in person on Wednesday, September 4, at the 7:50 pm screening, while critic and author Phillip Lopate will appear in person on Friday, September 6, at the 7:45 pm show.