If you feel like screaming at your TV for two hours, go watch Totally Under Control.
The documentary follows the Trump Administration’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic and offers a “report card” of sorts on their handling of the disease.1AlekGibney, the writer/director, told the LA Times this.
How does Trump do, according to Totally Under Control’s filmmaker, Alex Gibney?
While Gibney refrains from giving a specific grade, the documentary clearly suggests the Trump Administration earns an “F” for their response to the virus. By interviewing many who warned of the pandemic as far back as 2019, Gibney shows how these experts were completely ignored by Trump, with the catastrophic consequences we all know.
That’s why this film is so frustrating: Totally Under Control acts as an examination of how and why America continues to flounder during the coronavirus crisis.
So, ah, actually, even if you don’t want to scream at your TV for 120 mins, you should still see Totally Under Control.
Who is Alex Gibney?
Alex Gibney is a badass documentary filmmaker.
Perhaps you’ve seen a few of his films:
- Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room. This film dissects the 2001 collapse of Enron and the fraud and corruption that lead to it. It won numerous awards for “best documentary” and was actually required viewing for my degree from Arizona State University. The W.P. Carey School of Business wanted to ensure that all its students understood the dangers of unethical leaders, since so many Enron employees lost their pensions and life savings after the company disintegrated. Although to be honest, I could write a whole article on how Enron ripped off society at large.
- Gonzo: The Life and Work of Dr. Hunter S. Thompson. Thompson was a bad motherfucker and he changed the world of journalism forever. Gibney’s film on Thompson is a must-see for anyone interested in Thompson, as a better biological documentary has never been done. Also, it’s narrated by Johnny Depp, so that’s fun.
- Going Clear: Scientology and the Prison of Belief. Scientology is a powerful institution. Gibney analyses the religion and some of the dubious actions it takes to silence its critics. This film really makes you question the line between a religion and a cult. Although I might be seeking the wraith of Scientology by writing this…
- The Inventor: Out for Blood in Silicon Valley. This documentary follows Elizabeth Holmes and her former company Theranos. Much like Gibney’s work on Enron, this film analyzes the fraud and corruption that lead to the collapse of a major up and coming company. The Inventor also offers a cautionary tale of the hubris of Silicon Valley, as Holmes’s characteristics can be seen in other leaders around San Francisco’s tech community.
As you can see, I respect Alex Gibney’s large body of work. Gibney puts a lot of careful thought into his films.
For his latest documentary, Totally Under Control, Gibney sought out key individuals from the early days of the coronavirus to appear on camera. Knowing what we know now, their warnings seem very prophetic.
Why Should I watch Totally Under Control?
Totally Under Control takes us chronologically through the coronavirus pandemic with interviews from those who were there.
The film starts by comparing two countries who reported their first COVID-19 case on the same day: South Korea and the U.S.A.
The differences in managing the virus are painfully clear:
- South Korea was honest with its population and took proactive measures to find and limit the reach of the coronavirus.
- The U.S. did not.
The result?
South Korea has been able to avoid economic shutdowns while managing the spread of COVID. The United States… not so much.
Kim Jin Yong, a South Korean doctor, gives an interview in the film that provides some context for the comparison.
Dr. Yong recounts how he admired America and the CDC.
He highlights that 90 percent of the medical textbooks in South Korea are American. Plus, America paved the way for many medical advances, including inventing the N95 face mask.
That’s why Yong admits it’s “so sad” to watch America’s incompetent response to COVID.
While Yong’s interviews is great, there are actually a lot of doctors who provide heartbreaking testimonials in Totally Under Control.
The director of the Intensive Care Unit at the University of Virginia Medical Center center, Taison Bell, gives one such interview where he describes feeling helpless against COVID-19.
Bell looks beaten down when discussing how frontline workers were unprepared for the onslaught of coronavirus patients they received.
To make this scene even more powerful: right before Bell’s gutwrenching confession, Gibney shows a clip from Trump stating that America “wasn’t built to be shut down.”
That’s the thing Totally Under Control captures well: the Trump Administration really doesn’t give a fuck that there are 1,000 new cases of coronavirus a day.
But whether you care about it or not, the coronavirus has changed all of our lives in 2020.
Take how they had to film Totally Under Control: to capture many of the interviews for his documentary, Alex Gibney wrapped his camera and crew in a shield of plastic, protecting the interviewer from the interviewee.
The odd setup of camera equipment suggests the filmmakers takes the COVID-19 pandemic more seriously than the current U.S. President.
Now what?
Unlike Alex Gibney’s other films, Totally Under Control doesn’t have a neat end.
It basically just cuts to a screen that says “OMFG, right after we stopped filming, Trump caught COVID. Wut.”2Not a direct quote.
That’s what happens when you’re making a documentary about events that are currently unfolding: you really have no clue what will make the final edit.
Perhaps someday Gibney will make a sequel to Totally Under Control, to provide a summary and bookend to our 21st-century pandemic.
Until then, let us look towards the South Koreans and ask ourselves “could we have handled COVID-19 better?”
Judging from Totally Under Control, the answer would have to be “yes.”
Stay safe out there.
Love,
Paul Aguilar
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Photo source: Administering Flu Vaccine.