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.

9/11 craziness in Angelo Guglielmo's docu-mentary THE WOMAN WHO WASN'T THERE

Among the many 9/11 tales of hardship and heroism, this one -- THE WOMAN WHO WASN'T THERE -- stands tall -- if only as the tallest tale of them all: the story of New Yorker "Tania Head" (née Alicia Esteve of Barcelona), who conned New York and much of the world into believing her totally fabricated story of being a World Trade Center survivor.

Writer/filmmaker Angelo Guglielmo, above, had surprising access to Ms Head/Esteve (shown below) and to many other survivors and relatives of same, and from this he has put together a fascinating account of the hoax and its aftermath. Building his story methodically and smartly, the filmmaker is at the same time building suspense.  Most of us will know what happens, but not especially the "how" and "when," and it is these that make the documentary so riveting.

Unfortunately, just when the film should start to percolate, it ends. What happens after that last shot? We need to know, but whether we'll find out in some follow-up, or not at all, is left hanging.  As The Woman Who Wasn't There is but a mere 65 minutes in length, one might reasonably question why it is being shown solo in a theatrical venue. Not that those minutes aren't worth watching. But they cry out for more.

The film opens today in New York City at the Quad Cinema -- three showings daily -- before appearing on cable TV this coming Tuesday, April 17, at 8pm (EDT) on a channel/program that I had not heard of previously: ID Investigation Discovery.  To learn where and how you can access this channel, click here and then enter your zip code and TV service provider.