The Kingmaker: NZIFF Review

A chilling indictment of power and delusion, Lauren Greenfield's The Kingmaker works wonders by never turning its central character into the villain she truly is.

With a sensitive lens and a steady hand, Greenfield's gradually gobsmacking documentary places the focus squarely on Imelda Marcos and the ill-gotten gains and political powers at play in the Philippines.

With a side-focus on the rise of son Bongbong Marcos and a sudden end inclusion of President Duterte's rise to power, The Kingmaker leaves scenes of utter power and disgust to swirl in your gut.

Opening with Marcos handing out obscene amounts of money to those mobbing her, and then doing something similar in a hospital while showing little to no empathy to the suffering around her and caused by herself and her husband, Greenfield slowly damns Imelda into the pantheons of monsters.

Ego, desires to be seen on the world stage and utter contempt build in a heady concoction as the doco plays out, and while Greenfield never chooses to damn Marcos, she certainly delivers Marcos enough rope to essentially hang herself.

Hubris and arrogance rise to the fore - from Imelda Marcos' desire to bring animals from Africa to Philippines on a whim to the secret puppetry behind Bongbong's rise to the top, what emerges is a truly chilling damnation of a country unable to shake itself from inexorable corruption.

Utterly compelling, truly frightening and likely to leave your blood boiling, The Kingmaker is essential documentary-making, a terrifying mirror to a society unable to ever shake itself free - and a piece of film-making that exudes quiet power in every frame.