About the documentary

Airing just days before Donald Trump’s inauguration, this four-hour, two-night series explored how America’s intense polarization came to be.

The takeaway

This in-depth examination of the Obama years from Michael Kirk and his team connects the dots behind the country’s widening divisions over politics, race, economics and much more — going inside the major turning points of Obama’s presidency, the conflict within the Republican party and the rise of anti-establishment forces in American politics. From Sarah Palin’s anti-elite message, to the Wall Street bailouts, to the battle over the Affordable Care Act, to the killings of Trayvon Martin and worshippers in a Charleston, South Carolina church, the series finds an epic narrative that begins even as Barack Obama was promising hope and change, and leads right up to the election of Donald Trump. Critics called it “bracingly alive,” “deep and daring,” and “a brilliant and destabilizing four-hour miniseries about the deep ideological rifts that currently define American politics.”

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Read 21 extended interviews with top White House officials, members of Congress, experienced reporters and other key experts. Plus, revisit oral histories examining race in the Obama era, the GOP’s opposition strategy and Donald Trump’s standoffs with the GOP establishment.

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How did Vladimir Putin come to see America as an enemy? This two-part documentary from Michael Kirk and his team investigates the Russian president’s rise and rule, and how U.S. intelligence came to believe he targeted the 2016 presidential election.

The takeaway

Part one of Putin’s Revenge is a portrait of what makes the Russian leader tick, and the events that shaped his belief that the U.S. has sought to undermine Russia dating back to the fall of the Soviet Union. It explores how Putin constructed his image, and how he came to see Hillary Clinton in particular as an enemy. Then, part two delves into the story of Russian involvement in the 2016 election, the reaction under Presidents Obama and Trump, and the implications for the future of American democracy. “The Russians aren’t going to stop,” former Director of National Intelligence James Clapper tells FRONTLINE. “Their experience in our 2016 election is going to embolden them to interfere in the future, maybe more aggressively.” The Wall Street Journal called the documentary “a work of electric power,” and Yahoo TV said that it’s “an urgent and absorbing piece of filmmaking.”

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In tandem with the premiere of Putin’s Revenge, FRONTLINE went live with The Putin Files — a major effort to open up our source material by publishing 56 full-length interviews from the making of the film, all fully navigable by person, theme or highlight. The Poynter Institute called the project “an admirable move towards transparency.”

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Who is Stephen Bannon, and what’s behind his crusade to upend the political establishment and dramatically transform America? Get an in-depth look at President Trump’s controversial former chief strategist in this May film from Michael Kirk and his team.

The takeaway

Drawing on nearly 30 in-depth interviews with political insiders, Bannon’s former associates at Breitbart News, authors and journalists, the documentary explores Bannon’s motivations, how he shaped Trump’s campaign, his wars with Washington and the threat he sees from "Islamic fascism." “He has kind of reduced all of the conflicts of modern society to that essential faceoff between the terrorists and the Americans,” Marc Fisher of The Washington Post told FRONTLINE. The documentary also examines how Bannon transformed Breitbart into a political force targeting the GOP establishment — and incubating the "populist nationalism" that would help propel Trump’s winning presidential bid.

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Hear from four current and former Breitbart staffers about how, under Bannon, Breitbart not only became a dominant media force in GOP politics, but also a springboard for him into the Trump orbit.

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How did Donald Trump transform himself from real estate developer to reality television star to president of the United States? Drawn from the critically acclaimed documentary The Choice 2016, this January film examines key moments that shaped President Trump — from his early years, to his tumultuous career in the public eye.

The takeaway

Going all the way back to Trump’s childhood, this documentary from Michael Kirk and his team traces how the president’s worldview came to be. The film explores how at a young age, Trump learned from his father that there are two kinds of people, winners and losers, and how he was taught by his mentor and lawyer, Roy Cohn, that when someone hits you, you need to hit back harder. “Donald dreads humiliation and he dreads shame, and this is why he often attempts to humiliate and shame other people,” author Michael D’Antonio told FRONTLINE. From how Trump’s time in military school shaped him, to his first big counterpunch, to how “The Apprentice” gave Trump the image makeover that would help him become a political star, the film goes beyond the headlines to explore what makes Trump tick, and what fueled his remarkable ascent to America’s highest office.

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Read extended interviews with Trump’s associates and biographers, and watch The Choice 2016, the dual biography of President Trump and Hillary Clinton from which this film is drawn.

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The day after Martin Luther King, Jr. was killed, an Iowa schoolteacher named Jane Elliott taught her students a lesson in discrimination they would never forget. She decided to treat children with blue eyes as superior to children with brown eyes. In this classic documentary from 1985 — the only film on this list that didn’t premiere in 2017 — FRONTLINE explores what those children learned about discrimination, and how the experiment went on to shape them.

The takeaway

“I watched what had been marvelous, cooperative, wonderful, thoughtful children turn into nasty, vicious, discriminating, little third-graders in a space of 15 minutes,” Elliott says. “They found out how to hurt one another,” she says, but more importantly, “they found out how it feels to be hurt in that way, and they refuse to hurt one another in that way again.” Produced and directed by William Peters, A Class Divided revisits Elliott’s third-grade class some 15 years later, and finds that they remain resolute in standing up against bigotry. “I think the necessity for this exercise is a crime,” Elliott says. “I don’t want to see it used more widely, I want to see it — the necessity for it wiped out.”

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Read an extended interview with Jane Elliott from 2002, delve into the first chapter of Peters’ book on Elliott’s “blue-eyes”/”brown-eyes” lesson and explore a classroom guide on using A Class Divided as a teaching tool.

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More and more Americans are struggling to make rent. Each year, an estimated 2.5 million people across the country are evicted. In this May investigation, FRONTLINE and NPR joined forces to examine the crisis in affordable housing — exploring why so few people are getting the help they need, and whether government programs designed to aid low-income Americans with rent are working as they should.

The takeaway

In a nine-month investigation, NPR’s Laura Sullivan and FRONTLINE’s Rick Young found that just one in four households eligible for Section 8 housing assistance are getting it — and that the nation’s signature low-income housing construction program is costing taxpayers more in credits, but producing fewer units. The investigation also explores the inseparability of race and housing in America, tracing a legacy of segregation that began more than 80 years ago. From exploring why even those who receive Section 8 vouchers often struggle to find housing, to examining charges that developers have stolen money meant to aid low-income people, Poverty, Politics and Profit is a timely and probing exploration of why so few Americans are getting the help they need.

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Listen to NPR’s radio pieces, read about how the country’s housing affordability crisis impacts the lowest-income Americans, and watch Young and Sullivan’s earlier collaboration, Business of Disaster — an investigation of the Hurricane Sandy relief effort.

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Ammon Bundy claims he never wanted to be anything more than a rancher. But last year, he led the largest armed uprising against the federal government in a generation. This May film takes viewers inside the battle between the Bundy family and the federal government, examining how a simmering fight over land in Nevada and Oregon became deadly, invigorated a wider armed militia movement, and continues to challenge law enforcement.

The takeaway

American Patriot: Inside the Armed Uprising Against the Federal Government investigates the standoffs that propelled the Bundy family into the national spotlight and landed them on the radar of the federal government. The film goes inside the battle over Bunkerville, Nevada, where the Bundys and their supporters led an armed standoff protesting the federal Bureau of Land Management. Then, the story moves to Oregon, where Ammon led an armed occupation of the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge that lasted for more than a month. In addition to Ammon Bundy and militia leaders who rallied to his cause, you’ll hear from the FBI special agent in charge of the Malheur response, and you’ll learn new details on law enforcement’s current approach to domestic extremism. In fact, while making the film, FRONTLINE obtained never-before-released video in which FBI agents posing as documentary filmmakers can be seen running an undercover operation to investigate Ammon Bundy and his family.

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Read a long-form investigation that tells the inside story of the battle over Bunkerville, investigating how in the wake of bloody confrontations like Waco and Ruby Ridge, the U.S. government altered its approach to homegrown extremists — at times emboldening militias and complicating efforts to hold them to account. Plus: Explore a guide to the new militia movement.

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Earlier this year, Kim Jong-un’s half brother Kim Jong-nam was ambushed in a Malaysian airport by two women bearing a lethal chemical weapon 10 times more powerful than sarin. He died en route to the hospital. Who planned the murder of Kim Jong-un’s half brother, and what does it reveal about the North Korean leader and his regime? That’s the question at the heart of this October film.

The takeaway

Amid escalating tensions between President Trump and Kim Jong-un, the documentary examines claims the North Korean leader ordered the assassination on Kim Jong-nam, and sheds light on his broader intentions. Drawing on interviews with a leading North Korean defector, diplomats, experts, Kim Jong-nam’s school friends and even a former North Korean secret agent, the documentary is a rare glimpse inside the secretive country — and an eye-opening look at how King Jong-un is trying to ensure his regime’s survival. “I think Kim Jong-un wanted to make a point to any would-be rivals, potential opponents, defectors out there, saying, ‘I can kill you in any manner,’” analyst Sue Mi Terry tells FRONTLINE of the leader’s alleged role in the assassination. The documentary also explores the regime’s nuclear capabilities: “This is a country that has a GDP that’s one third the level of Ethiopia, and yet [Kim Jong-un] managed to generate enough precision, technical acuity and money in order to build a nuclear missile program that poses a genuine threat to the United States,” The New Yorker’s Evan Osnos says.

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Navigate a timeline of the tensions between the U.S. and North Korea, read about how North Korea is able to evade sanctions, and revisit FRONTLINE’s earlier look inside the Secret State of North Korea.

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Airing just days after President Donald Trump’s inauguration, this January documentary told the inside story of how the businessman-turned-reality TV star-turned politician defied expectations to win the presidency.

The takeaway

Packed with insights from those inside the campaign, this film from Michael Kirk and his team explored how the candidate shattered political norms and defeated his adversaries. A crucial component of Trump’s winning message? He spoke directly to his supporters’ fear and anger at Washington, at the establishment, at trade deals, and at immigration. “There is so much that scares Americans,” Republican pollster Frank Luntz says in the film. “And Donald Trump is the only politician who talked to those concerns and those fears. To his critics, it’s fear mongering. To his supporters, it’s truth telling.” The documentary also examined Trump’s canny use of the media spotlight, and found that his campaign rallies weren't just meant to fire up voters — but to fire up Trump himself. The Globe and Mail called the film “a necessary one-hour primer on how Trump became president.”

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Read 13 extended interviews from the film — and immerse yourself in a fully-annotated interactive script that allows you to explore documents, photographs, interviews and other source materials used in making the documentary.

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Best-selling author and lifelong fisherman Paul Greenberg spent a year traveling the world’s oceans and fish farms, eating fish at breakfast, lunch and dinner to help answer the question, “What fish should I eat that’s good for me and good for the planet?” His journey unfolded in this April documentary tracing the stories behind the fish on our plates, and exploring the connection between the health of oceans and our own health. 

The takeaway

“A piece of fish in an American restaurant,” Greenberg says, “travels an average of 5,000 miles before you get to take a bite.” And when it comes to weighing the benefits of wild versus farmed fish, not everything is as it seems. For example, Greenberg finds that at America’s largest seafood trade show, American wild salmon is labeled as a product of China. Why? Because Alaskan salmon is shipped frozen to China, where it is thawed, deboned and filleted, refrozen and then shipped back to American supermarkets. On the farmed fish front, things aren’t much clearer: In Norway, the world center for farming one of America’s most popular fish, the Atlantic salmon, profits are huge — but there is fierce criticism from environmentalists who complain that salmon farms create more sewage than the country's entire human population.

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Read an excerpt from Greenberg’s book, Four Fish: The Future of the Last Wild Food, and peruse a Q&A with Greenberg about lessons learned from his year of eating fish.

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