The Flaw (2011)

The Flaw is a documentary film which premiered in 2011. The topic is the economic crisis and collapse of 2008. Here are some basic facts about it:

** Director: David Sington

** Consultant: Alex Crossman

** Available on DVD and via Amazon Prime Video

** Run time: 78 minutes

Many persons are interviewed in the film. I will not mention all names, because the complete list is too long. Here are some of the names (in alphabetical order):

** Ed Andrews – economic correspondent, New York Times

** Dan Ariely – professor of psychology, Duke University

** Antoinette Coffi-Ahibo – optician

** George Cooper – fund manager, Blue Crest Capital

** Robert Frank – professor of economics, Cornell University

** Louis Hyman - economic historian, Harvard University

** Andrew Luan – former mortgage bond trader

** Steve Nahas – real estate investor

** Jim O’Neill – chief economist, Goldman Sachs

** Robert Shiller – professor of economics, Yale University

** Joseph Stiglitz - economist, Columbia University (winner of the Nobel Prize in economics)

** Robert Wade – professor of political economy, London School of Economics

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.

What about the title? What does it mean? The title is borrowed from a statement by Alan Greenspan, former director of the US Federal Reserve. When asked how the economic crisis of 2008 can be explained, he says there is “a flaw” in the system. He does not define this flaw. Nor does he explain why he was not aware of it until now (when the crisis has already happened).

In this film, different people try to explain the crisis and to define the flaw. But when we get to the end of the film, I am still not quite sure what the answer is. What is the flaw in the system, according to director David Sington and his team? Perhaps you just have to listen to what the different people say and then make up your own mind.

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

** 73 per cent = IMDb

** 69 per cent = Rotten Tomatoes (the audience)

** 82 per cent = Rotten Tomatoes (the critics)

On the US version of Amazon there are at the moment 90 reviews of this product. The average rating is 3.6 stars.

Film critic Peter Bradshaw says this film is pretty good, but not as good as Charles Ferguson’s Inside Job from 2010. He offers three of five stars, i.e. a rating of 60 per cent (The Guardian, 2 June 2011).

I agree with Bradshaw when he compares The Flaw with Inside Job. Ferguson’s film is sharp and witty. And better, when it comes to explaining the economic crisis of 2008. But Bradshaw’s rating of only three stars is too harsh for me. I think The Flaw deserves a rating of four stars.

PS # 1. The following review is available online: James Greenberg, “Sundance film review: The Flaw,” The Hollywood Reporter, 30 January 2011.

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

** Collapse (2009) 

** American Casino (2009)

** Too Big to Fail (2011)

** Heist: Who Stole the American Dream? (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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