A Dangerous Game ****

The first thought that pops into the mind watching filmmaker Anthony Baxter’s follow-on film to You’ve Been Trumped (2011), A Dangerous Game is, can there really be that many people needing to play golf on Planet Earth? The rest is a powerful expose of the usual greed, arrogance and miscommunication that such documentaries are so apt at stoking. This second film is no exception, with the filmmakers getting right under the international skin while tussling Donald Trump’s quiff once more. It’s as thrilling at getting the wealthy’s back up as it is educational and genuinely concerning.

In A Dangerous Game – doubling up as a nickname for ‘golf’ here, Baxter and team (writer Richard Phinney) go up against other corporate ‘villains’, picking up where the previous film/investigation left off, including revisiting at the Menie Estate in Aberdeenshire, Scotland. They also delve into the effects a proposed luxury golf course development ­– complete with swanky ‘Grand Design-styled’ housing – will have on the surrounding hilly and drought-stricken terrain above Dubrovnik in Croatia.

This is not meant to be a ‘rich bashing’ exercise of haves verses have-nots, but there is a real sense of that; let’s face it, if you had the chance to put a hole in one in lush green surroundings and then retire of an evening to a poolside house just off the course, wouldn’t you at least entertain the idea, before responsibility and reality kicked back in? Baxter and co are not trying to be righteous here rather point out the facts. They do a great job of filling in those who haven’t seen the 2011 film, as well as presenting the scientific and social consequences of developing the land – the science always convinces.

What is highly topical with the Scottish Independence vote around the corner is the Menie Estate is in the First Minister Alex Salmond’s constituency – he who decided not to comment for this film. Ironically, it’s like a Unionist’s dream documentary without consciously meaning to be. But the real anger is still directed at Trump, the folk devil of corporate malaise. It’s also what fans of the first have been waiting for – the sequel of Trump v Baxter. And it’s worth waiting for, Baxter’s contained dignity at Trump’s arrogance. What’s more fascinating to observe this time around is a paranoid Trump as Baxter has grown into “a much more important person” (patronising and daft indeed).

Without revealing more, in brief, A Dangerous Game explores the widening gap between the rich and the poor – using golf developments as its example. It does so in an incriminating fashion, without sensationalising (considering there is a lot of shocking political manoeuvring to be found this time). Baxter’s second film is a satisfactory sequel to what the filmmaker began. However, it’s not him but the above fundamental issue that’s “much more important” as we are made aware of not being complacent about the power of the little person. Things can be changed in a David and Goliath battle.

4/5 stars

By @FilmGazer

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