Outrage, revulsion, frustration, grief, not to mention the urge to punch through a wall. Those emotions, which countless Americans have endured since the coronavirus pandemic upended everyone’s lives in March, were all circulating through my head while watching Totally Under Control, a documentary that details how the Trump administration’s failed response to the crisis turned it into a nightmare scenario. Because it lays out such a detailed exploration of the pandemic’s early months, I have no trouble ranking it among the most important films of 2020.

The title stems from one of President Trump’s earliest responses to the first U.S. case of coronavirus in Seattle, just as a similar case was recorded in Seoul. But where the South Korean government reacted accordingly to contain the virus, American leadership dragged its feet, a revelation made even more horrific after Bob Woodward’s interviews with Trump revealed that he understood the virus’s severity as far back as February. It didn’t matter. Trump’s reelection campaign revolved around hyping up the economy, so anything disruptive to the markets was played down, even the threat of a pandemic. Besides the president’s inactions, directors Alex Gibney, Ophelia Harutyunyan, and Suzanne Hillinger extend their scope to highlight the long list of bureaucratic underlings who helped him downplay the virus for partisan gain.

Totally Under Control was produced in complete secrecy since April, with interviews quietly gathered from medical professionals and ex-government employees who didn’t want their unflattering words suppressed by the Trump administration. It focuses primarily on a time line between January 20 and mid-April, during which the U.S. government had its best chance to turn things around. The subjects—ranging from the former director of the Biomedical Advance Research and Development Authority, Rick Bright, to medical company owner Michael Bowen to Association of Public Health Laboratories CEO Scott Becker—align across the political spectrum, but they are united by their shared horror at the government’s failed initiative. They communicate via “COVID-cam” (a handheld camera delivered to the interviewee’s doorsteps) or behind a plastic sheet: this is the nature of documenting history in the social distancing era.

Everything about these testimonies reinforces how crucial a strong, coordinated government testing program was needed to curb the virus. We did not get that. From faulty CDC test kits to the president’s cabinet regularly contradicting scientist messaging, what starts out as tragedy slowly shifts into callousness. Not only did the administration throw out Obama-era playbooks for dealing with such threats, but high ranking officials like Nancy Messonnier were removed from the task force simply for committing the unforgivable sin of contradicting Trump’s “It’s gonna be just fine” message, all while he was smearing coronavirus as a Democratic “hoax” on the campaign trail. By the time the executive branch conceded to authorize mass testing at the end of February, the damage had already been done.

From there the film moves into familiar territory, documenting the chaotic aftermath of America’s nationwide shutdown. This includes the rise of COVID-cases in New York City, mask shortages, states bidding for federal support, and, to many scientists’ chagrin, prolonged discussion over hydroxychloroquine. The most shocking story, however, comes from Max Kennedy Jr., the whistleblower who exposed Jared Kushner’s coronavirus task force as little more than 10 twenty-somethings with laptops.

Kennedy signed up under the assumption that he would assist health experts, and he describes the disbelief and confusion of having to actually operate the program, which existed less to solve the coronavirus than to leverage political gain from state leaders and help certain corporations profit from PPE distribution. It’s a frightening mix of having no plan at all and every excuse at the ready while ignoring the presidency’s vast resources in favor of not just politicizing the wearing of masks but reality itself.

Unlike most contemporary issue documentaries, Totally Under Control is inconclusive for good reason. That Trump tested positive the day after it completed filming only reinforces the tragedy of America’s dystopian Groundhog Day scenario, even as much of the world moves on.  This central message, that politicians failed to put the public’s health above partisanship, is further haunted by the virus being reduced to yet another culture war issue, rendering indifference to a death count that exceeds 9/11, the wars in Afghanistan, Iraq, Vietnam, and the Korean War and World War I combined. Even Orwell would be shaken by the level of doublespeak chutzpah.

How does one end such a biological threat when, as the narration puts it, “Ignoring expert advice became an act of patriotism in the Trump administration”? Sadly, we must wait until after November to find out.