Documentary filmmaker Alex Gibney released the first trailer for his latest movie, “Totally Under Control.” The Oscar-winning filmmaker names the movie after President Donald Trump‘s now-infamous comment during the early days of the pandemic.
The documentary film chronicles the Trump administrations’s mishandling of the coronavirus.
“[The film is] the definitive account of the Trump administration’s incompetence, corruption and denial in the face of this global pandemic,” said the production team, Los Angelos Times reported.
Read More: President Trump and first lady test positive for COVID-19
The movie compares how the White House handled the coronavirus to how South Korea, a country much closer to China, the virus’s country of origin, handled it.
“On January 20th, 2020 the U.S. and South Korea both discovered their first cases of COVID-19,” the film’s synopsis reads.
“However, nine months later, the novel Coronavirus has claimed the lives of over 200,000 Americans and caused staggering economic damage, while in South Korea, there were no significant lockdowns and, in an urbanized population of 51 million, only 344 lives have been lost. Where did we go wrong?,” the report continued.
The film was in production for the past five month, with Gibney and co-directors Ophelia Harutyunyan and Suzanne Hillinger speaking to scientists, medical professionals and government officials on the inside. The team also spoke to whistleblower Rick Bright.
Bright, an immunologist, public health official, and former director of the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority (BARDA) filed a whistleblower complaint, alleging that his early warnings about the COVID-19 pandemic were ignored.
The former director claimed he was illegally retaliated against when he was ousted from his role and moved to a new position.
Bright said that scientists knew how to respond to the viral threat, “the plan was in front of us, but leadership would not do it.”
Read More: U.S. to hit 200K dead; Trump sees no need for regret
The documentary has assured that it will show, “damning testimony from public health officials and hard investigative reporting” and aims to expose “a system-wide collapse caused by a profound dereliction of Presidential leadership.”
“Totally Under Control” will be made available on Oct. 13 through Apple TV+, iTunes, Amazon, FandangoNow, Google Play, YouTube, Vudu and other on-demand digital services. Hulu will stream the film on Oct. 20.
Have you subscribed to theGrio’s podcast “Dear Culture”? Download our newest episodes now!