Exciting and pretty accurate

Rating: 8/10 (2 March 2016)

I was very eager to see The Big Short not only because of good cast, but also because I do have financial education and know the situation from different perspectives (no, I'm not a banker and wasn't involved in this crap anyhow, but MBS, CDO, ABS and stuff don't sound foreign to me). Even though most characters are speculators - who basically want to profit from the market inefficiency though have the courage to go against everyone else - the film tries to deliver the experience from the point of view of ordinary people, and does it well. Wall Street world looks very confusing, overpaid and corrupt. That is true. But don't be fooled by thinking that's the only point of view: there were also mistakes of the scientific society, government and even society itself. People accepted the positive side of capitalism for decades and asked no questions. That's the negative side. What you really want to take away from this movie is that relying on politicians or economists or media is not an option. There are people, me included, who think the crisis isn't over at all and the worst part, much worse than 2008, is coming. If you don't understand what's going on chances are you are going to have to pay. As for the cinematic part, the acting is very solid, especially by Christian Bale and Steve Carell, and the directing delivers the feel of the coming storm, very well supported by references to the actual events. That's the first movie that makes finance look exciting without trying to oversimplify things and glorify complete criminals.