Inside Job (2010)

Inside Job is a documentary film about the US and global economic crisis of 2008. Here is some basic information about this film which premiered in 2010:

** Director: Charles Ferguson

** Writers: Charles Ferguson, Chad Beck, and Adam Bolt

** Narrator: Matt Damon

** Released on DVD in 2011

** Available via Amazon Prime Video

** Run time: 108 minutes

The film is divided into five parts which follow a chronological line. Here are the headlines:

# 1. How we got here (the time before 2001)

# 2. The bubble (2001-2007)

# 3. The crisis (2008)

# 4. Accountability

# 5. Where we are now

Several persons are interviewed in the film. I will not mention all the names, because the complete list is too long. Instead I will present them in the following way: the persons who are interviewed can be divided into two groups.

** In the first group we have some of the persons who tried to issue a warning before the crisis happened. At the time when they did this, they were ignored by the relevant authorities.

** In the second group we have some of the persons who might have done something to prevent the crisis, but who ignored any warnings and failed to act.

Archive footage is also used between the talking heads. When archive footage is used, additional names are often mentioned. Sometimes a name is followed by an on-screen message which says:

“NN declined to be interviewed for this film.”

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

83 per cent = IMDb

84 per cent = Meta (the audience)

88 per cent = Meta (the critics)

91 per cent = Rotten Tomatoes (the audience)

98 per cent = Rotten Tomatoes (the critics)

On Amazon UK there are at the moment more than 200 reviews of this product. The average rating is 4.7 stars. On the US version of Amazon there are at the moment more than 1,200 reviews of this product. The average rating is 4.6 stars.

As you can see, the ratings are high. Surprisingly high, when we remember that this is a film about the economy, which is regarded by many as a “boring” topic.

When you look at Meta and Rotten Tomatoes, you can see that there is a small difference between the general audience and the professional critics, although both groups are very positive.

It is not uncommon to find a difference between these two groups. Often, the critics will go higher than the audience. What is remarkable in this case, is that a film about a complicated and technical issue gets almost as high marks from the audience as it gets from the critics.

Some viewers may like this film, because they agree with the general message, while others may dislike it, because they disagree with the general message. Whether you agree with the general message or not, I think this film is worth watching, because it offers a lot of important information.

There is not much to laugh about when you are watching this film. The topic is serious and the problems are huge. Solutions are difficult to find and if you can find some, they may be difficult to implement. But when we get to the fifth and final chapter of the film, there are a few moments where I think you will have to smile or even laugh. Let me explain:

Many persons agreed to be interviewed for the film. But some of them seem to regret this decision, once the camera is rolling, and they realize that they have been caught, because the director has some hard questions for them.

They are in trouble. They do not know what to say. They would like to shout or stop the whole thing, but this option is not available, because the camera is rolling.They must be polite.

In desperation, they try to find a way out, but it is not easy. Some participants hang themselves in this final chapter of the film. It is a moment of comic relief in the middle of a tragic account.

I understand the numerous positive reviews and I agree with most of them. I want to go all the way to the top with this product. I think it deserves a rating of five stars.

PS # 1. I do, however, have one complaint about this film: some clips are too short. Sometimes the speaker is not even allowed to finish his or her sentence, before he or she is cut off. Clips should be longer. And whenever there is a truly remarkable statement, it could and should be repeated. What was that? What did he say? Did he really say this? Let us go back and listen one more time… Doing this would make the film more viewer-friendly.

PS # 2. For more information, see the following items:

** Heist: Who Stole the American Dream? (2011)

** The Flaw (2011)

** Too Big to Fail (2011)

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

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

** Abacus: Small Enough to Jail (2016)

** Inside Lehman Brothers (2018)

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