Heist (2011)

Heist: Who Stole the American Dream? is a documentary film which premiered in 2011. The topic is the economic crisis of 2008. Here is some basic information about this film:

** Directors: Frances Causey and Donald Goldmacher

** Writers: Frances Causey and Hollis Rich

** Narrator: Thom Hartmann

** Released on DVD in 2013

** Run time: ca 75 minutes

More than twenty-five persons are interviewed in the film. The list includes academic experts, politicians, and political activists. Here are the names in alphabetical order:

** Gar Alperovitz

** Jovanka Beckles

** Kim Berry

** Alan Blinder

** David Brock

** Sandra Cordova

** Robert Crandall

** Mark Davis

** Jeff Faux

** Conny Ford

** Leo Gerard

** David Green

** Leslie Griffith

** Jakada Imani

** David John

** David Cay Johnston

** Van Jones

** Hene Kelly

** Kimber Lanning

** Michael Lind

** Leo Mattis

** Nomi Prins

** Paul Craig Roberts

** David Rolley

** Bernie Sanders

** Elizabeth Warren

** Benjamin C. Waterhouse

** Drew Westen

Archive footage is used between the talking heads. Archive footage is used to illustrate historical events and to show us old clips and old interviews with public figures.

The film is partially based on the book The Global Class War by Jeff Faux (first published in 2006). If you look at the chart above, you will see that the author (Jeff Faux) is one of the persons who are interviewed in the film.

What do reviewers say about this film? Here are the results of two review aggregators:

** 78 per cent = IMDb

** 86 per cent = Rotten Tomatoes

On the US version of Amazon there are more than one hundred reviews of this product. The average rating is 4.2 stars.

I understand the numerous positive reviews. If you ask me, they are fully justified. This film covers an important topic. Not only the economic crisis of 2008, but also the background: how did this happen? Who is responsible for this?

The film also tries to look at the future: what can we do to get out of this crisis? How can we make sure that something like this will not happen again?

I want to go all the way to the top with this product. I think it deserves a rating of five stars.

PS # 1. The following review is available online: Chuck Bowen, “Review: Heist,” Slant Magazine, 3 March 2012. This review offers 3 of 4 stars, i.e. a rating of 75 per cent.

PS # 2. Frances Causey is co-director of the documentary film The Long Shadow which premiered in 2018.

PS # 3. For more information, see the following items:

** I.O.U.S.A. (2008)

** Collapse (2009)

** American Casino (2009)

** Inside Job (2010)

** Too Big to Fail (2011)

** The Flaw (2011)

** Hank: Five Years from the Brink (2013)

** Money for Nothing: Inside the Federal Reserve (2013)

** Abacus: Small Enough to Jail (2016)

** Inside Lehman Brothers (2018)

** Panic: The Untold Story of the 2008 Financial Crisis (2018)

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