The Island President is a documentary about the former, first and perhaps only democratically elected, President of the Maldives Mohamed Nasheed and his fight to save his country against the effects of global warming and rising oceans. While The Island President is an earnest film, it is ultimately a dry one that takes place in a series of meetings that lead to nothing. The Island President already felt doomed as he went passionately and expertly through the motions to make no progress. The cameraman briefly gets excited when Hillary Clinton walks through the halls. The representative from China is completely clueless yet wields considerable power. The Island President is retroactively poignant because Nasheed gets deposed in a coup so the only proof that the Maldives had a competent government remains on film, not in real life. The Island President is must see viewing for environmentalists and government wonks like Leslie Knope, but ultimately a depressing view of why we can’t have nice things.