Inside Job (Movie Review)

Sony Pictures (Released 2010)

Charles Ferguson

USA

Review 5 stars— Excellent Movie

How the blurb describes the movie:
Academy Award Winner for Best Documentary Feature “Inside Job” from Academy Award-winning filmmaker, Charles Ferguson (No End In Sight), comes Inside Job, the first film to expose the shocking truth behind the economic crisis of 2008. The global financial meltdown, at a cost of over $20 trillion, resulted in millions of people losing their homes and jobs. Through extensive research and interviews with major financial insiders, politicians and journalists, Inside Job traces the rise of a rogue industry and unveils the corrosive relationships which have corrupted politics, regulation, and academia. Inside Job was made on location in the United States, Iceland, England, France, Singapore, and China.

Mr Home Budget’s Review:
We don’t normally do movie/documentary reviews at Mr Home Budget. However this one is a must to let people know about it. As you will all remember, we had a massive crash worldwide in 2008 (The Global Financial Crisis).

This even here in pretty stable and small Australia sent a ripple effect through all businesses. Unemployment shot up higher, businesses went to the wall, and superannuation funds took a big hit. At one point in 2009, the Australian government, in an effort to jump-start the economy, started handing out $1000 cheques to a majority of us. So to say people were affected was an understatement. And even in 2011, there are many hangovers from this crash today which have not been fully recovered.

But what was the cause of the problems? Who was to blame? And have we learnt the lessons from this crash going forward? All difficult questions to say the least.

This Academy Award winning film answers some of these questions and the answers are concerning, if not down right scary to say the least. In fact there were warning signs going all the way back to the year 2001 about an upcoming crash. But bankers and politicians either didn’t listen, or in some cases, ignored the red flags. In fact to date, not one person has gone to jail for this crash, even though there is so much evidence of plain greed and wrongdoing.

As the film points out, there was more spent on an enquiry into Bill Clinton and Monica Lewinsky than the global crash. A startling statistic!

But I want to give you some reviews from the Apple ITunes Online Store which might give you some examples as to what people are saying about the film.

Unbelievable!!! (FIVE STARS) by Sanushka Wijayadasa 14 /07/2011
Absolutely unreal documentary. Absolute must watch. Can’t believe these offenders got away SCOTT FREE when there are millions of people homeless because of their wrongdoings.

Compelling and worth watching! (FIVE STARS) by WA-oz 21/07/2011
Provides a compelling overview of what led up to (caused) the 2009 global recession/crisis and chills my blood over how the people who did this remain untouched and free, without any form of censure.
A poor person can steal food to feed their family and go to jail, while someone beyond wealthy steals from the world is protected by governments and is free to do it again... And anyone following current affairs knows that it is all happening again, as I write this... and why not, they know that they will get away with it again.
A must-view documentary – this should be screened worldwide!

This is an eye opener! (FIVE STARS) by Wesley John Wiskar 24/07/2011
This movie shows a world where greed isn’t good. This explains how the financial world will do anything to make more money. This is an excellent film. I knew nothing about how the stock market worked and this film didn’t jar me. It explained it all to me so then I could understand it better. It uncovers the truth behind the world’s greatest financial catastrophe and shows that we could have avoided it.

Intriguing (FIVE STARS) by Calvin So 08/07/2011
Even though I’m just starting my first year of studying economics in VCE, this movie made me think more about the American economy and how it controls the economies of the nations around the world. It really shows how the US economy was being built on the most fragile of bases.
My mother told me once; “That building the greatest building is not by building the tallest, it is one that is built on the strongest of bases to support it during the hardest of times.”

This is a movie that would at the end make you think twice about the way the US economy is structured.

Makes You Squirm and Wince! (Five Stars) by Ozcar Wilde 17/07/2011
I once got told “If you steal $1000 you have a problem, if you steal $1,000,000 your bank has a problem” – now it seems you can steal $100,000,000,000 and it’s your country that has the problem. I sat through the credits with my mouth open and understood why a CFO I know said that this would be the first generation of people with a lower class of living than the previous one.

What will they do next, they not only got away with this, but it was sanctioned – scary?

As you can see, this movie can open up some pretty deep feelings. And while the movie is not extremely easy to understand (e.g. you may have to watch it a few times to know all the nuts and bolts). It’s not rocket science on the other hand. I suggest you track this movie down and watch it for yourself.

Pros: A real eye opener to how the world really works.

Cons: You might have to watch it a few times to understand some of the more complicated bits.