Powerful and Evil: films and series about the rich and infamous

The release on January 30 of the Sky Original documentary Elon Musk Unveiled: Das Tesla-Experiment offers an opportunity to examine the figure of the modern villain. While the 1980s, 1990s and even the early decades of the 21st century were filled with bigger than life on-screen anti-heroes (Darth Vader, Hannibal Lector, Walter White, Tony Soprano, The Joker, Hans Landa…); the past few years have brought contemporary real-life characters to the screen, whether through documentaries or fictionalized stories. The line between the two has increasingly blurred, as fiction has begun to mimic reality.

Perhaps the most accomplished example in this field is Succession, with its media mogul clearly inspired by billionaire Rupert Murdoch and its sharp, sarcastic political charge. In a similar vein comes Vice, depicting the ruthless former US Vice President Dick Cheney. It is no coincidence that Vice director Adam McKay also directed the first episode of Succession.

Revolving around related themes, Mountainhead from writer-director Jesse Armstrong (also known as the showrunner of Succession) follows a handful of billionaires during a winter retreat, as they instigate — and are then forced to confront — a global crisis.

Other examples include The Regime, in which Kate Winslet stars as a fictional female version of Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, or The Apprentice, which traces the rise of a young Donald Trump.

Alongside these overtly satirical, both comedic and tragic works of fiction, there is a growing range of documentaries focusing on modern malicious and controversial leaders — from Elon Musk to Donald Trump, from Silvio Berlusconi to Vladimir Putin — as well as films that take us further back in time to earlier despotic and fascist figures such as Julius Caesar or Adolf Hitler.

These historical figures, like their contemporary counterparts, share a hunger for media control, economic coercion and the repression of opponents. History, unfortunately, tends to repeat itself.

Powerful and Evil: a curated selection of films and series to better understand the world we live in, and the people who have — unfortunately — shaped it. All available now on Sky Show.