The billionaire property developer Donald Trump has bought up hundreds of acres on the northeast coast of Scotland, best known to movie-lovers as the setting for the 1983 classic film “Local Hero.” And like the American oil tycoon played by Burt Lancaster, he needs to buy out a few more locals to make the deal come true. In a land swimming with golf courses, Trump is going to build two more – alongside a 450-room hotel and 1,500 luxury homes. The trouble is, the land he purchased occupies one of Europe’s most environmentally sensitive stretches of coast, described by one leading scientist as Scotland’s Amazon rain forest. And the local residents don’t want it destroyed.
After the Scottish Government overturns its own environmental laws to give Trump the green light, the stage is set for an extraordinary summer of discontent, as the bulldozers spring into action. Water and power is cut off, land disputes erupt, and some residents have thousands of tons of earth piled up next to their homes. Complaints go ignored by the police, who instead arrest the film’s director, Anthony Baxter. Local exasperation comes to a surreal head as the now “Dr” Trump scoops up an honorary doctorate from a local university, even as his tractors turn wild, untouched dunes into fairways.
Told entirely without narration, You’ve Been Trumped captures the cultural chasm between the glamorous, jet setting and media savvy Donald Trump and a deeply rooted Scottish community, whose local dialect demands a liberal use of subtitles. What begins as an often amusing clash of world-views grows increasingly bitter and disturbing.
Funny, inspiring and heartbreaking in turns, You’ve Been Trumped is an environmental parable for our celebrity driven times.
Directed by Anthony Baxter, “You’ve Been Trumped” was produced by Angus based independent production company Montrose Pictures Ltd. The film score features music from world the world renowned Sigur Ros and the band’s frontman Jonsi.
