'Totally Under Control' film review: Exposé doc rebukes White House's Covid failings
The blistering Covid-focused documentary 'Totally Under Control' (available on demand starting Oct. 13 and premiering on Hulu starting Oct. 20) is a methodical postmortem of a bungled outbreak response that seethes with frustration and anger.
In short: An in-depth look at how the United States government handled the response to the COVID-19 outbreak during the early months of the pandemic.
It's surreal to watch a documentary chronicling events from just a few months ago - yet still feel futile hope and gut-churning frustration through the ups and downs. Co-directors Alex Gibney, Ophelia Harutyunyan, Suzanne Hillinger thoroughly and deliberately illustrate what a proactive, clear-headed disaster response would look like -- and contrasts that with the actual steps the White House took (or in many cases, simply did not take).
'Control' takes a step back from the pandemic frontlines - the frontline first responders - for the most part in favor of a broader look look at systemic missteps. Who better than give a crash course on "pandemic response 101" than the filmmaker who broke down corporate corruption ('Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room') and lifting the veil on a shadowy religion ('Going Clear: Scientology & the Prison of Belief')? The filmmakers painstakingly interview people who sounded the alarm of viral outbreak or supply chain weaknesses - presenting a perfectly reasonable case for prudent steps ... steps that are and again ignored or defied outright. There's an element of frustration in watching this documentary that has nothing to do with the film's craftmanship - it's the growing frustration of listening to first-hand accounts from experts whose dire warnings went unheeded.
This documentary - itself released just weeks ahead of a presidential election and less than a year after the pandemic began - exists in a very ephemeral sense. The film opens with statistics that are current as of October 2020 and its release date is transparently geared to sway or activate registered voters. So in a way, it's a snap shot of a slow-moving disaster taken while the disaster unfolds. Filmmakers Gibney, Harutyunyan and Hillinger acutely sidestep this limitation by focusing almost entirely on the government's immediate response to the runaway coronavirus in the pandemic's opening weeks and months.
The Covid-19 pandemic will be analyzed from the safety of hindsight in the years and decades to come. While no singular omnibus documentary can possibly encompass the entire coronavirus pandemic without the Ken Burns multi-episode treatment, this film is a wholesale takedown that paints leadership whose woefully ineptitude and blinding anti-science stance cost American lives.
Final verdict: 'Totally Under Control' is a scathing condemnation of a flawed and inadequate response paralyzed by indecision and partisan gamesmanship. It is a difficult to watch this documentary without a pit forming in your stomach.
Score: 4.5/5
'Totally Under Control' is available on demand starting Oct. 13 and streams on Hulu starting Oct. 20. This documentary is unrated and has a running time of 123 minutes.
(Image courtesy of NEON)
