Greetings again from the darkness. It is absolutely understandable if you have reached your limit for dissecting and analyzing the 2008 financial crisis. However, if you can't get enough, or are still trying to find someone to blame for looting half your retirement plan, this film offers a different perspective and one that proves more personal.
Hopefully you saw "Inside Job", a fine documentary that provided an overview of the collapse. HBO's "Too Big To Fail" gave us a glimpse inside the Fed's decision making process during the crisis. This movie narrows the focus down to a singular investment bank. Writer/Director JC Chandor serves up a dramatized story that begins with massive layoffs. We see the hatchet crew arriving replete with security escorts, as high paid executives are led out to the sidewalk. Stanley Tucci plays a middle manager in the Risk-Analysis department. As he is headed to the curb, he hands a flash drive to one of his young analysts (Zachary Quinto) and tells him to finish it and "be careful".
Flash forward a few hours and the surviving staff heads out for celebratory drinks while Quinto's character starts churning away on Tucci's formula. Once he realizes that the risk formulas on MBS (mortgage backed securities) have threatened the stability of the firm, he places an emergency call. It is quite interesting to see how this emergency escalates as we are introduced, one rung at a time, to the hierarchy within the firm ... Paul Bettany, Kevin Spacey, Demi Moore, Simon Baker. This culminates in a late night conference room meeting when the CEO (Jeremy Irons) arrives by helicopter.
There are so many facets to this story. We see how some are in the game for money. Penn Badgley says it's all he ever wanted to do, but his obsessive behavior over the income of each manager shows us why. Paul Bettany is a middle manager who realizes the "killers" such as Simon Baker have passed him by. Demi Moore plays the type who doesn't mind finding a fall guy, as long as it's not her. Kevin Spacey is 30+ year career man who has survived many crisis by being loyal to the firm, while also doing right by the client. Jeremy Irons is the charming, powerful CEO who laughs about being as smart as a Golden Retriever, but laser-focused on keeping the firm viable.
What you can't help but notice is the number of managers who point out that they don't understand the charts and graphs and numbers, and just need someone to explain it to them in "plain English". We also see self-preservation at its finest/worst and the struggle that some of the characters have in deciding what is the "right thing to do". It is not surprising, yet frightening still, to see that the red flags were flying before anyone acknowledged their presence.
When the CEO says the three ways to win are to: "be first, be smartest or cheat", we realize huge decisions are made only in the best interest of the firm ... not the economy, and certainly not an individual investor. Although this investment firm remains nameless through the film, I did find it interesting that Irons' character name is John Tuld. John Tuld ... Dick Fuld ... Just sayin'
Hopefully you saw "Inside Job", a fine documentary that provided an overview of the collapse. HBO's "Too Big To Fail" gave us a glimpse inside the Fed's decision making process during the crisis. This movie narrows the focus down to a singular investment bank. Writer/Director JC Chandor serves up a dramatized story that begins with massive layoffs. We see the hatchet crew arriving replete with security escorts, as high paid executives are led out to the sidewalk. Stanley Tucci plays a middle manager in the Risk-Analysis department. As he is headed to the curb, he hands a flash drive to one of his young analysts (Zachary Quinto) and tells him to finish it and "be careful".
Flash forward a few hours and the surviving staff heads out for celebratory drinks while Quinto's character starts churning away on Tucci's formula. Once he realizes that the risk formulas on MBS (mortgage backed securities) have threatened the stability of the firm, he places an emergency call. It is quite interesting to see how this emergency escalates as we are introduced, one rung at a time, to the hierarchy within the firm ... Paul Bettany, Kevin Spacey, Demi Moore, Simon Baker. This culminates in a late night conference room meeting when the CEO (Jeremy Irons) arrives by helicopter.
There are so many facets to this story. We see how some are in the game for money. Penn Badgley says it's all he ever wanted to do, but his obsessive behavior over the income of each manager shows us why. Paul Bettany is a middle manager who realizes the "killers" such as Simon Baker have passed him by. Demi Moore plays the type who doesn't mind finding a fall guy, as long as it's not her. Kevin Spacey is 30+ year career man who has survived many crisis by being loyal to the firm, while also doing right by the client. Jeremy Irons is the charming, powerful CEO who laughs about being as smart as a Golden Retriever, but laser-focused on keeping the firm viable.
What you can't help but notice is the number of managers who point out that they don't understand the charts and graphs and numbers, and just need someone to explain it to them in "plain English". We also see self-preservation at its finest/worst and the struggle that some of the characters have in deciding what is the "right thing to do". It is not surprising, yet frightening still, to see that the red flags were flying before anyone acknowledged their presence.
When the CEO says the three ways to win are to: "be first, be smartest or cheat", we realize huge decisions are made only in the best interest of the firm ... not the economy, and certainly not an individual investor. Although this investment firm remains nameless through the film, I did find it interesting that Irons' character name is John Tuld. John Tuld ... Dick Fuld ... Just sayin'