Sneha Jaiswal (Twitter | Instagram)
Rob Ford is one of the rare Mayors in political history to be caught on camera doing cocaine while still in office. But what’s more surprising about the case is his refusal to step down from the post and gaslight the media and the world about never trying crack cocaine. Netflix’s documentary ‘Trainwreck: Mayor of Mayhem’ revisits Rob Ford’s rise to the position of Toronto’s Mayor and his eventual fall as scandals about his drinking and drug habits came to fore with the first two years of his taking office. It’s the tale of a populist politician who couldn’t keep his personal demons in check.
Years before U.S President Donald Trump made is fashion to discredit the media and rouse hatred within the electorate against the ‘fourth estate’, it was Rob Ford in Canada’s Toronto, who ensured his voters didn’t believe a word that came out in print (or tv) against him. The journalists interviewed in ‘Trainwreck: Mayor of Mayhem’ recall following Rob Ford’s stormy political career, which was a wild ride of controversies, unhinged emotions, and shocking twists.
Less than 50 minutes long, Trainwreck: Mayor of Mayhem feels more like a snazzy news segment than a typical documentary, which attempts to get both sides of the story, although there’s not one family member of Rob Ford on camera. Instead, it features close political aides, a bodyguard, among others, who saw his workings firsthand. What emerges is a split personality: one of a surprisingly sincere and hard-working politician, who was willing to go door to door to help out his electorate, someone who got things done in his first year of office; the other is that of a raging alcoholic, maybe a drug addict, intolerant of criticism, and unfiltered in his emotional reactions.
A clear portrait of a right-wing leader – overtly ambitious, ridiculously influential – emerges in the documentary, one who was never ready to let defeat bring him down. Even though the documentary makes some comparisons between Rob Ford and Trump, mostly due to their right-wing populist approach to politics, it’s also evident that Rob Ford was a lot more articulate and astute than Trump. His closest political aides reveal how they were kept in the dark about certain aspects of his life. Although, of course, who knows if they are telling the whole truth?
I really didn’t know anything about Rob Ford or his political career until viewing this documentary, so all I can say is that this was definitely very entertaining to watch as a foreign viewer.
‘Trainwreck: Mayor of Mayhem’ is on Neflix.
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