A new documentary examining the turbulent political career of former Toronto mayor Rob Ford has premiered on Netflix, offering a concentrated look at a story that once captivated and confounded a global audience. Titled Trainwreck: Mayor of Mayhem, the film traces the improbable rise and spectacular collapse of a leader whose tenure was defined by a series of escalating scandals that ultimately turned the governance of Canada’s largest city into an international media spectacle.
The documentary is the second installment in an eight-part anthology series from the streaming service, titled Trainwreck. This series is dedicated to dissecting “some of the wildest and most bizarre events ever to blow up in mainstream media,” with each weekly episode focusing on a different public disaster. The Ford episode joins examinations of other so-called “cultural disasters,” such as the tragic Astroworld music festival, the infamous “Poop Cruise,” and the “Balloon Boy” hoax. This contextual framing is significant. By placing the story of Rob Ford alongside these other events, the series signals its primary interest is not in a conventional political biography but in the anatomy of a media phenomenon. The very title of the series acts as a narrative filter, priming the viewer to interpret Ford’s story through the lens of chaos, disaster, and public spectacle—an interpretation reinforced by reviews describing the film as “car-crash TV”. The focus is less on the intricacies of municipal policy and more on the mechanics of the “mayhem” itself.
The film establishes a clear narrative arc: a brash, populist city councillor, widely dismissed by the political establishment and media as a “joke,” defies all expectations by winning the mayoralty in a “shocking landslide victory”. His administration, however, soon devolves into what the synopsis calls a “slow motion trainwreck”. An unrelenting “avalanche of scandals,” including allegations of hard drug use, culminates in an “international media frenzy” sparked by the emergence of an infamous video that appeared to show him smoking crack cocaine.
The Anatomy of a “Trainwreck”: Narrative Construction and Directorial Vision
The documentary is helmed by director Shianne Brown, whose previous work has focused on “powerful, thought-provoking stories” and “character-led documentaries” that tell the stories of individuals in “extraordinary situations”. Her stated approach emphasizes authenticity and sensitivity, a style brought to bear on the Ford saga. The film is produced by the production companies RAW and BBH Entertainment, with a team of executive producers that includes Tim Wardle, the filmmaker behind the acclaimed documentary Three Identical Strangers, suggesting a pedigree of high-quality, narrative-driven filmmaking.
The narrative is structured as a classic rise-and-fall chronicle, beginning with the mayoral election that vaulted Ford into power and then charting his subsequent “spiral into scandal”. In keeping with Brown’s directorial interests, the story is explicitly told “from the perspective of those caught in the chaos,” including journalists, witnesses, and political insiders. This approach foregrounds the human drama at the center of the political storm.
A defining characteristic of the film is its brevity. At a runtime of just 49 minutes, the documentary presents a highly compressed version of events. The Ford mayoralty was a four-year term packed with a multitude of complex and overlapping controversies, from a conflict-of-interest trial and allegations of domestic disturbances to a litany of public gaffes and the sprawling police investigation into his substance abuse. As one review notes, the former mayor generated “more chaos than fits inside 49 minutes”. This condensed format is not an oversight but a deliberate narrative choice. Given the production team’s capacity for complex storytelling, the short runtime signals that the film’s objective is not to be an exhaustive historical record. Instead, it aims to deliver a concentrated, high-impact viewing experience that captures the visceral essence of the “trainwreck.” By necessity, this requires a highly selective focus, prioritizing the most visually dramatic and widely publicized moments—chiefly the crack cocaine scandal and Ford’s public outbursts—over more nuanced, less sensational political or legal subplots. The result is a narrative that favors the “greatest hits” of the scandal, a choice that shapes the audience’s understanding by sacrificing encyclopedic depth for narrative momentum and emotional impact.
The Grainy Lens of Reality: Archival Footage as a Central Character
The documentary’s narrative is constructed primarily around a dense collage of archival footage, which functions as a central character in the story. The film relies heavily on what one review calls “thrillingly grainy footage” of Ford’s most infamous and unguarded moments, captured on the low-quality mobile phones of associates and bystanders. This includes clips of him appearing to smoke from a crack pipe, slurring threats of violence with vivid specificity, and delivering bizarre rants in a Jamaican patois.
The low-fidelity, shaky-cam aesthetic of this citizen-generated footage is not a technical limitation but a core narrative element. It imparts a sense of raw, unfiltered immediacy, placing the viewer in the position of someone consuming the scandal as it unfolded in real-time across gossip websites and social media feeds. These clips are what one observer calls “film-maker’s gold”—unedited, first-hand sources that capture a public figure at his lowest points. The documentary juxtaposes this raw footage with more formal media, such as official recordings from Toronto City Council chambers—including the moment Ford charged across the floor and knocked over Councillor Pam McConnell—and the contemporary news reports from outlets like the Toronto Star and Gawker that first broke the story of the crack video.
This reliance on archival material serves a purpose beyond simple illustration. In the story of Rob Ford, the grainy cellphone video is not merely evidence of his actions; it is the catalyst for the entire public implosion. The scandal is inseparable from the medium that revealed it. By centering this footage, the documentary tells a story not just about a politician’s downfall but about the disruptive power of citizen journalism and the permanent, unforgiving lens of the smartphone camera in the digital age. The film’s aesthetic choices—embracing the chaotic, low-resolution nature of its source material—become a form of meta-commentary. The medium is, in effect, the message. The documentary uses the very texture of the footage to explore what happens when a public life unravels under the relentless, democratized gaze of modern media, recreating for the audience the disorienting experience of the “media frenzy” as it happened.
Voices from the Eye of the Storm: A Chorus of Witnesses
With Rob Ford himself deceased and appearing only in archival footage, the documentary’s narrative is carried by a chorus of witnesses who recount the events from their own perspectives. The film is told through the eyes of “insiders, witnesses, and journalists who lived the madness firsthand,” creating a collective post-mortem of a uniquely chaotic era. One of these confirmed participants is Toronto City Councillor Josh Matlow, who served on council throughout Ford’s term and provides an insider’s political perspective on the turmoil.
These interviews, or “talking heads,” provide the interpretive framework that connects the disparate pieces of archival footage. They recall an administration that “turned city hall into a circus” and a leader they saw as “an everyman without a shred of credibility”. Because the protagonist cannot be interviewed in the present, the film becomes less a biography than an exercise in public memory, shaped and curated by those who survived the political storm.
The selection of these voices is a critical narrative act. The documentary gives the floor to those who were “caught in the chaos,” a choice that aligns with director Shianne Brown’s focus on telling stories of people in “extraordinary situations”. Her stated goal is not just to inform but to make the audience feel what it was like, suggesting the interviews are curated to build an emotional arc that likely mirrors the city’s own journey through disbelief, frustration, scandal, and exhaustion. The documentary thus constructs a specific, and powerful, collective recollection of the Ford years. The absence of key defenders, such as Ford’s brother and political ally Doug Ford, or primary antagonists, like former Police Chief Bill Blair, would be a significant choice, shifting the film’s focus away from a simple political battle and toward a more unified story of a city grappling with an unprecedented crisis in leadership. The result is a narrative built not on the claims of a single protagonist, but on the shared testimony of a community that witnessed a political implosion up close.
The Political Context: Deconstructing “Ford Nation” and its Aftermath
The documentary delves into the political movement that propelled Rob Ford to power, portraying him as a populist outsider who successfully tapped into a deep well of suburban resentment. His campaign was built on a simple, resonant message of fiscal conservatism and anti-elite sentiment, encapsulated in his vow to “stop the gravy train” at City Hall. He positioned himself as a champion for the taxpayer, railing against what he termed the “war on the car” and casting himself as the voice of working-class suburbanites who felt ignored and disdained by the “downtown elites”. The film examines how this platform capitalized on the geographic and socio-economic divides within Toronto, building a loyal base that became known as “Ford Nation”. Unlike many right-wing populists who rely on anti-immigrant rhetoric, Ford’s appeal extended to the city’s diverse, new immigrant communities in the suburbs, who responded to his message of fiscal restraint and his socially conservative, pro-family values.
Once in office, however, his administration became defined by an “avalanche of scandals”. The documentary chronicles a pattern of erratic behavior that extended far beyond policy disputes. This included numerous instances of public intoxication, a string of offensive and controversial remarks that were variously described as racist and homophobic, multiple police calls to his home for domestic disturbances, and a confrontational style in council that alienated even his allies. Ford was ejected from a military gala for appearing impaired, was accused of groping a political rival, and faced a conflict-of-interest lawsuit that nearly removed him from office for using his official position to solicit donations for his private football foundation. The centerpiece of this downfall was the crack cocaine scandal, a sprawling saga that the film meticulously reconstructs.
The End of the Line: A Sobering Reflection on Modern Politics
In its final analysis, Trainwreck: Mayor of Mayhem presents the Rob Ford era as more than just a local political anomaly; it is framed as a cautionary tale with clear resonance for contemporary politics. The documentary portrays a mayoralty that “scandalized Canadian politics” and reduced the business of the city to a “circus,” leaving a legacy of chaos in its wake.
The film suggests that the Ford phenomenon was a harbinger of a new, more volatile brand of populism. As Councillor Josh Matlow notes in an interview, there are “Lots to learn from that tumultuous experience during this time of Trump”. The documentary highlights Ford’s combative and adversarial relationship with the media, whom he often attacked by name, his potent anti-elite rhetoric, and his remarkable ability to retain a core of fervent supporters despite an endless stream of scandals that would have ended any conventional political career. One of the most telling details recounted in the film is a poll taken after the first video was reported, which found that half the city believed Ford’s claims that the media was simply fabricating the story. For journalists, this was a “warning bell” that the traditional rules of political accountability were changing.
Ultimately, the documentary is a 49-minute distillation of a political and media firestorm. It is a tightly constructed narrative that succeeds in its goal of capturing the visceral, chaotic experience of the “trainwreck.” By prioritizing the spectacle over a detached historical analysis, the film serves as a potent study of how a public figure can unravel under the relentless gaze of modern media, leaving behind a complex legacy that continues to be debated.
Trainwreck: Mayor of Mayhem was released on Netflix on June 17, 2025.
