The Last Resort

By Fraser Denholm

A few days before it opened at Aberdeen’s Belmont Cinema in June, Anthony Baxter’s new documentary, “You’ve Been Trumped” was dismissed by the Trump Organisation, who branded the filmmaker a “fraud”. “Baxter has no credibility and from what we have seen the film has been widely regarded as a failure” they added. Given the high-profile offensive mounted by ‘The Donald’ on Barack Obama regarding the President’s birth certificate, it’s unlikely “You’ve Been Trumped” could be given a more apt endorsement.

The film recently won the Green Award following its UK premier at Sheffield Doc/Fest and was part of the official selection at Toronto’s HotDocs festival. Aberdeen audiences’ appetite for the film has led to more screenings in the city, and the film will be shown in Edinburgh and Glasgow next month.

“You’ve Been Trumped” is a moving, poignant, human story charting a year in the development of the self-proclaimed “greatest Golf Course in the World.” The implications of the development are many. Its political ramifications lead to the very top of Scottish Government. When the local authority declined planning permission to the resort the decision was overturned. In the film First Minister Alex Salmond justifies this by saying: “6000 jobs across Scotland, 1400 local and permanent jobs … in the North East, that’s a powerful argument, and I think that outweighs the environmental concerns”. These concerns involve the complete loss of a Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI), and its surrounding ecosystem, the last of its kind in Scotland.

Baxter places his camera where it really matters: in the homes and lives of the residents who have lived under threat and intimidation since the arrival of their new celebrity neighbour. We watch, over the shoulders of David Milne, Michael Forbes and his mother, Molly and Susan Munro (who was given her own camera by the production to chart the development) as their surrounds are systematically ripped up to make way for the resort, which is planned to consist of a 450-room hotel, 950 holiday homes, 36 golf villas, a golf academy and two championship golf courses.

Providing in depth background concerning the political and environmental issues and discourse surrounding the development, Baxter skilfully contextualises the human story within a number of wider concerns. Scientists, academics and senior politicians guide us through the physical and historical backdrops and the many conflicting and contradictory statements from the Trump Organisation (TO) regarding the planned resort.

The peaceful, quiet lives of the residents in their properties are shown to directly contrast with the activity on the neighbouring estate. While Molly Forbes boils potatoes and tends to her chickens, multiple black 4x4s roll onto site escorting Donald Trump, his entourage and the press into a media circus tumbling across the dunes.

At the time of filming, the four households who had refused to sell out to The TO were living under the threat from a request to Aberdeenshire Council to use Compulsory Purchase powers to buy their properties. But this was not the sum of their troubles. The film portrays an ongoing series of altercations and an apparent regime of intimidation brought forward by Mr Trump and his representatives, which eventually led to the developers creating huge mounds of earth in front of the properties in order to wipe them from view.

Throughout the film, the residents, filmmakers and visitors were under less-than-subtle surveillance by Trump’s private security forces. Security jeeps haunt the film in much the same way as they must haunt the residents, appearing in the background of shots, behind interviewees or through kitchen windows. Residents are - publicly - verbally abused, issued with legal threats and accusations of trespass as Trump International redefines boundaries, demanding that walls or fences be removed. In one case JCBs roll onto Michael Forbes land to begin digging and moving equipment. When Forbes approaches two policemen accompanying the workers with his title deeds they refuse to take part in the “civil disagreement.” When Forbes removed small red marker flags from his property he was charged with theft.

It was via Grampian Police that Baxter found himself and his producer pulled into the story themselves. While investigating an alleged accident which saw the residents’ water supplies severed, the filmmakers made an unannounced visit to the site base at Menie house and spoke to the greens keeper. Shortly thereafter, the filmmakers found themselves handcuffed and forced into a police car. Their equipment was seized and placed in police cells for four hours. They were charged with alleged breach of the peace. 

While local residents suffer the tactics of his organisation, Trump’s presence has beguiled the North East business community, politicians and local press. He is flanked at corporate events by Aberdeen’s movers and shakers, and has even been conferred an Honorary Doctorate by Robert Gordon University. The University’s chancellor, Sir Ian Wood – also spearheading his own development at loggerheads with the local community in Aberdeen - awarded this particular accolade. At one point in the documentary, Aberdeen’s Lord Provost greets Trump at the airport by grabbing the tycoon’s arm and holding on for dear life.

Aberdeen and its surrounding shire are in a strange position. After almost forty years of untold wealth thanks to the discovery of oil off its shores, this resource is now widely seen to be beyond peak. Decades of political ineptitude have seen inadequate provisions put in place to levy significant investment, and what investment has been made appears to have been frittered away. One prominent hotelier describes the golf course as “the biggest thing to happen in the North East since oil was discovered.”

During his many tirades against Michael Forbes, Donald Trump describes the salmon fisherman as “not a man who people in Scotland should be proud of.” Much like his public comments around the ‘birther’ issue, he is once again somewhat off the mark.

Throughout the documentary allusions are made to Bill Forsyth’s “Local Hero”. Although in the current case we are not granted the heart-warming benevolence of Burt Lancaster’s stargazing oil tycoon, who has a last minute and very Hollywood change of heart. Instead we have the unwavering clout of Donald Trump whose lack of empathy is exemplified by his catchphrase of “you’re fired.” The Menie families are not only local heroes, but national and - thanks to Donald Trump’s media shenanigans - international ones.

“You’ve Been Trumped” is pitch perfect in its delivery of the facts. It rests the many issues surrounding the development on the shoulders of the householders standing up to a vast corporate machine. Each of the residents is completely different from his/her neighbours, with different backgrounds, livelihoods and concerns, giving their plight even more resonance. Any one of us could find ourselves facing the same problems in the face of development, where the desires of the wealthy appear to outweigh the needs of normal people trying to go about their everyday lives.

When awarding the film the “Sheffield Green Award” the jury described the documentary as “a film which exposes one of the most shocking environmental crimes in recent UK history.” The untold story behind the development is one of immense significance not just for Aberdeenshire, but for Scotland as a whole. While exposing the tactics of the Trump Organisation, it also casts doubts on the future of Scotland, suggesting that the price of independence may be to sell off parts of the country to the highest bidder.

“You’ve Been Trumped” will be shown at the GFT in Glasgow on 13th July and Cameo, Edinburgh on 14th July.

http://www.youvebeentrumped.com