Movie Review: Divide and Conquer: The Story of Roger Ailes

Divide and Conquer: The Story of Roger Ailes **** / *****

Directed by: Alexis Bloom.

 

There have been – and undoubtedly there will be many more – films about “how we got here”, meaning this point in American history where the country is led by a reality TV star who has no idea what he’s doing, lies constantly, is tearing down every institution and norm he can, and still half the country doesn’t believe it, because every time something he doesn’t like comes out the President just dismisses it as fake news and his followers go along with it. America didn’t get here overnight, and it didn’t happen all because of Donald Trump. The seeds here were sewn long ago. Out of all these docs, Divide and Conquer: The Story of Roger Ailes is one of the very best- in large part because it places much of the blame where it belongs – on Fox News, and the man who made it what it became, Roger Ailes, and just how easily the movie makes clear that it was all founded on lies, showmanship and paranoia.

 

The movie basically runs almost two parallel tracts during its runtime. On one, we see Ailes rise through the media landscape – how he worked for Nixon, knowing the President needed to master TV if he was going to win, and then moved over into the news department of networks and kept rising up the ladder. At times he was an on air personality, but for the most part, he was content to stay behind the scenes. The film makes the case that had his first cable news network – America’s Talking – not become MSNBC, he may not have left to run Fox News – and then that network would not have become the massive right wing, conspiracy mongering news site it did become.

 

The other tract allows many of Ailes’ victims to come forward and tell their story of enduring sexual harassment by Ailes, and others, at Fox News. These women would have meetings with Ailes, who would make it clear that if they wanted their career to advance, they’d have to play ball with him. It’s infuriating, and disgusting stuff.

 

There is also just a wealth of interesting information about Ailes – like when he moved to Cold Spring, New York and tried to turn the town into his own personal plaything, using the same tactics he used on the nation on Fox News – shocking, the town is better able to withstand his barrage than the country was. There’s also just a lot of footage that shows just how far down the delusional rabbit hole Fox News has really fallen – and how that was by design.

 

For such an infuriating and depressing documentary, it also must be said that the film is fast moving and entertaining. Director Alexis Bloom covers a lot of maternal in just over 100 minutes, and yet the film never feels overstuffed or rushed. She gives you the details in a clear and concise package. The movie will make you angry – should make you angry. And disgusted. And maybe even depressed. But it should also give a clearer picture of at least one aspect of how – and why – we got here.