I just rewatched the first episode of Trust. When it first aired on telly last Wednesday, it didn’t quite  have my full attention, so I thought a second viewing was in order. This time I found it much more interesting and certainly worth getting into.   It gives us a  glimpse of an episode of social history I had  heard of but didn’t know much about: one hears fragments of stories about the Getty family, but nothing very in-depth. This film illuminates that  story, and I can now see why the Getty family was/is so  renowned – they were complete pricks, weren’t they?! To have so much wealth yet refuse to pay any tax is utterly, utterly selfish. The way they lorded over the oil industry, recklessly using up the Earth’s resources as if they owned the entire planet was utterly vile. Danny Boyle paints a picture of how dire capitalism can get, and it isn’t pretty.

What is pretty, though, is the scenery Boyle uses.  I loved spotting parts of Charlton House I recognised just now. Boyle uses quite a bit of it, especially for interior shots. I recognised rooms I visit quite regularly;  one of them is where wee have our film festival meetings. It’s cool to think this show was made just around the corner from me, and by one of my favourite directors.

The next episode airs on Wednesday, and of course I’ll watch it. I want to see how  the story evolves, whether John-Paul Getty III survives, and how Danny Boyle continues to handle his portrait of these detestable capitalists. More to the point,  though, I’ll be watching for more glimpses of Charlton House.