You gotta love a good documentary. They’re entertaining, intriguing and educational. With the economy being on everyone’s mind for the past 10 years or so, The Queen of Versailles is an interesting look from the other side of the fence, the uber wealthy.

The filmmakers started following David and Jaqueline Siegel before the 2008 economic collapse. They are extremely wealthy. Twenty bathrooms in your house wealthy. David started Westgate time shares many years ago building a empire of 28 resorts around the country and a massive casino/hotel in Vegas. They live extravagantly and even with a 25.000+ square foot mansion, they need more space. They employ 19 people just for the house, they have 7 children under the age of 12 (and one who is a bit older, who they adopt from Jackie’s sister). They start to build Versailles, they 90,000 square foot dream home in Orlando.

Then the housing market and economy collapses in 2008. The Siegel’s get cut off at the knees.

It’s a fascinating look at what the US is now built on. It’s really easy to think these two are terrible people, they’re wealth is the kind that most people can’t even dream of. The can get any thing and everything they could ever want. They have deep social and political connections. It’s easy to be envious of what they have. But this docu does a really good job of showing both sides of the story. They’re both people. David worked and works his ass off for what he has. He never stops working. Jackie is a sympathetic person and she has her flaws. Westgate employs thousands of people, what David does, in fact helps people. But on the other side you see how crazy they live and view the world.

The filmmakers re-balance the scales in every scene. They show the humanity and then show the dirt. You feel disgusted by them, then you feel empathy. Two really good examples. David works hard as hell, no doubt. He does earn his money. He figured out how to work the system. But then the guy talks about how he helped George W Bush get elected in 2001. When asked how he did it, he says “I don’t want to say….it might not exactly be legal.” Another one is when they talk to the kids. The adopted girl came from an abusive and very poor family. She compares her life of being dirt poor and her new life of luxury. She talks about trying to stay grounded, think about where she came from and how she dreamed of being rich. “I thought if I was ever rich, I’d wake up with a smile everyday. Now, I’m just used to it.” All the kids are, they’re used to it, they don’t know anything else. Jackie is far and away the worst, a gleeful compulsive shopper. Buying stuff is what she loves to do. She talks about alligator shoes and ostrich feather pants that cost 10 grand, laughs when she said she spent a million dollars a year on just…stuff.

But it could happen to you, which is the main point. When you become successful, your lifestyle and expectations change. It’s human nature. Sitting there saying it would never happen to you, that you would never change is a lie. You wouldn’t be aware it was happening to you. Even with all that money, they’re just people. The Siegel fortune was made solely on credit. No one paid for his business in cash. He got huge, cheap loans to build his resorts. When it all collapsed, the banks turned on David just like they did on everyone else. And he made them millions, if not billions. The banks hounding him to sell everything, refusing to give him extensions or the chance to make a deal. They just wanted to take the real estate from him. Their dream house lays half way finished (it is SO obnoxious, it’s hilarious) after putting $75 million into it. It goes into foreclosure (it’s a tough sell, the amount of people that can afford it is really minuscule, the location makes it an even harder sell).

Fascinating story watching this wealthy family have to adapt to lifestyle changes and stress they never saw coming. It’s enraging, it’s sad and funny. One of the best documentaries I’ve seen in awhile.