Betting Against the American Economy

Rating: 9/10 (16 January 2016)

Basically this is a movie about the 2008 Global Financial Crisis and how three individuals picked up on the coming financial Armageddon and decided to play the market at its own game. In a way it is part a documentary, and part a story about how these individuals (though one of them is actually an independent arm of one of the major investment banks) decided to bet hundreds of millions of dollars against what many saw as being a rock solid economic foundation. In fact what they were doing was not just betting against the American economy, but also betting against the stability of the world economy.
What the movie does is that it attempts to explain what the main causes of the the catastrophe where, namely the fancy financial instruments that were created with the belief that the market would always go up, and that real estate is always a rock solid investment. However as some of the characters begin to dig deeper, whether it is looking at the figures that go to make up these financial instruments, or whether they go out and put their ear to the ground, they become ever more convinced that there is a serious problem within the economic system.
It was interesting how one of the characters, the head of a Californian investment fund, came to discover the shaky ground that many of these securities were built upon. However, there was no financial instruments that allowed him to bet against it, which meant that he had to go out and create them himself. Mind you, when he first suggested these investments to the large Wall Street banks, they simply laughed at him, however since they have no problem taking people's money, they were more than happy to comply (particularly since they saw it as easy money).
I could go on for ages taking about this crisis, however I will pull back a bit and simply talk about the film – it was really, really well done. The director did a great job of explaining how these financial instruments worked in a fairly clear manner (though the problem with some of them is that even those who created the instruments didn't actually know what they were supposed to do). It also gave a pretty clear indication of the risk these people were running, especially since they were making a bet against something that nobody could ever conceive happening (and even now, after what happened in the United States, if you raise the suggestion of an over-inflated housing market people will simply laugh at you and claim that you have no idea what you are talking about – the situation in the United States was different).
I have to say that I loved a number of characters in the film as well – especially Mark Braun – I never even realised that this was Steve Carroll until I checked the cast list at the end. I'm so used to him playing comedy roles that when he comes along and takes the role of a guy that isn't afraid to say it like it is, and to call out the fraud that he sees around him, then I have to say that my impression of him as an actor increases. In fact there were a couple of characters here that were rather odd, including the fund manager who spends the day listening to Metallica, bashing away at his drums, and coming to the office casually dressed. I guess to stand out from the crowd in the Wall Street game one needs to be a little odd and eccentric.
Mind you, if you are looking for a film that offers solutions, then maybe this isn't the one for you. Still, it is a great film that clearly paints the picture of how much of a casino culture our financial world has become. In fact it is quite interesting to discover that the securitisation forum was being held in Las Vegas of all places. The problem is though, our world hasn't gone back to the time that it was in prior to the Financial Crisis. In fact it has never even recovered and we are still experiencing shockwaves from it eight years after the fact. Maybe it was the biggest short of the century, but ever since then the financial system hasn't been the same.
Oh, and as usual Brad Pitt was also outstanding (I didn't even realise that he was in the movie until I read a review on IMDb).