Donald Trump makes a great villain. The sunny disposition that clouds into a demon scowl (when confronted by cheeky interviewers). The bionic hair. The chutzpah. At one moment in A Dangerous Game, Anthony Baxter’s sequel to You’ve Been Trumped, his documentary about the billionaire’s golf-course-building invasion of Scotland, Trump stands on a green receiving a plaque from the “American Academy of Hospitality Sciences”. Turns out: the Academy has three trustees, one named Donald Trump.
The film also investigates an unrelated, and yet strikingly similar, project to build a golf course in the environmentally sensitive hills above Dubrovnik, against the democratically expressed and overwhelming objections of the local population.
While Baxter could never get an interview with First Minister Alex Salmond to question to the Scottish Government's dubious role in the Trump debacle, he has interviews with Croatia's former President and the current Mayor of Drubovnik. Both talk elusively about regeneration and job creation, yet neither sells it well. They've already sold out.
A Dangerous Game looks impressively glossy considering its tiny budget, with extensive use of aerial footage shot from remote controlled drones. This technique works great for the wild Scottish coast and the majestic hills above the UNESCO World Heritage city of Dubrovnik in Croatia, where popular opposition to a similar golf resort project has met with death threats and undemocratic chicanery. Baxter also travels to the U.S. to visit a failed golfing community outside Las Vegas, which later filed for bankruptcy. He interviews a range of activists and experts, including actor Alec Baldwin, environmental lawyer Robert Kennedy Jr. and members of the Occupy movement.
Baxter weaves all this together into a fascinating and fairly damning indictment not so much of golf, but of the arrogant culture of exclusivity that has overtaken it worldwide. And while anyone who’s been following the story will know this film has a somewhat happier ending, it remains a plea for eternal vigilance. As environmental lawyer Robert F Kennedy Jr puts it: “There are lots of Donald Trumps out there.” It's a good job there are lots of Anthony Baxter's out there too.
A Dangerous Game is out cinemas now.