Irredeemably awful: the only two documentaries to win ‘Worst Picture’ at the Razzie awards
The non-fiction process of filmmaking, otherwise known as the documentary, is one of cinema’s most powerful and, conversely, most underrated forms of storytelling. Frequently ignored by the annual Academy Awards and reduced to their own disregarded category, documentaries are, however, better recognised at the antithetical of the Oscars, the Golden Raspberries, celebrating the worst movies of any given year.
A parody of the ego-rubbing Academy Awards, the Razzies, as they are less formally known, were created in 1981, with the inaugural trophy for ‘Worst Picture’ going to Nancy Walker’s comedy Can’t Stop the Music. Ever since, the award show, which takes place one week before the Oscars, has shined a light on the many awful box office flops and critical disasters, showing that Hollywood might not be the all-glamourous industry it purports to be.
Largely, the biggest award of the night is reluctantly taken home by producers of massive blockbuster flops, with recent recipients including such cinematic turkeys as Tom Hooper’s Cats, Josh Trank’s Fantastic Four and M. Night Shyamalan’s Last Airbender. But, while everyone knows how awful these films are, the most fascinating winners of ‘Worst Picture’ are the two documentaries that managed to walk home with the glittering Raspberry.
Perhaps unsurprisingly, both documentaries have come in the last decade of American political turmoil and concern themselves with the sheer divisive nature of such turbulent times.
The first documentary to take home the ‘Worst Picture’ award was Dinesh D’Souza and Bruce Schooley’s right-wing propaganda movie Hillary’s America: The Secret History of the Democratic Party. Attempting to topple the public persona of the titular Presidential candidate ahead of the 2016 election, the film highlights all that is wrong with contemporary politics and online commentary, with none of the conspiracy theories presented being backed up with any kind of logical evidence.
Four years later came another half-arsed political documentary, this time directed by Mike Lindell, the CEO of a pillow company. His movie, Absolute Proof, claimed that a Chinese cyberattack distorted the result of the 2020 Presidential election in which Joe Biden was victorious over Donald Trump. Another propaganda film, Absolute Proof, ironically spread undisputed lies pertaining to the conspiracy theory that Trump won the 2020 presidential election and that Chinese and Iranian authorities hacked voting machines.
It’s likely that both of these movies were, indeed, the very worst of their respective years. Still, one could also argue that giving them awards at a recognised ceremony gives them some sort of legitimacy, even if that award show is criticising the quality of a film. In spite of the criticism the films received, the Razzies gave both Hillary’s America: The Secret History of the Democratic Party and Absolute Proof a platform instead of simply ignoring them and relegating them to total obscurity.
To avoid spreading misinformation, look at a clip of James Corden as Bustopher Jones in Tom Hooper’s Cats below, an entirely more harmless movie that remains terrifically awful.
