The Kingmaker at the Gene Siskel

SHOW TIMES

• Fri, Nov 15th 2:00pm
• Fri, Nov 15th 6:00pm
• Sat, Nov 16th 7:45pm
• Sun, Nov 17th 3:00pm
• Mon, Nov 18th 6:00pm
• Tue, Nov 19th 8:15pm
• Wed, Nov 20th 6:00pm
• Thu, Nov 21st 8:15pm

This revealing, politically hair-raising documentary portrait makes it clear that, at the age of 90, the vain, shoe-loving former first lady of the Philippines still has a firm grip on power behind the scenes as she maneuvers to catapult her son Ferdinand Jr., aka Bongbong, to the nation’s presidency. Palming a wad of cash, Imelda Marcos blithely peels off bills out the window of her limousine to scores of clamoring street kid kids—just one astonishing scene of noblesse oblige captured in a grippingly fascinating survey of the past and dangerously active present of this controversial grande dame. A beauty pageant contestant who snagged Marcos, a rising politician, after an eleven-day courtship in 1954, Imelda has long been famed as the luxury-loving power behind her husband’s bloody and corrupt regime, alleged to have fleeced the nation of billions. Gaining her subject’s eager participation, director Greenfield (QUEEN OF VERSAILLES) rolls out an incredible tale with obvious parallels in the world’s other political dynasties. DCP digital. (BS)