REVIEW: Inside Job

Dir.: Charles Ferguson

Narrated by Matt Damon.

First of all, Matt Damon should narrate all documentaries. It should become his main job I think. He sounds trustworthy, objective when needed and sarcastic at other times. Most importantly, he is not boring. The film won an Oscar for the Best Documentary Film this year.

As tempted as I am to go into a prolonged and unnecessary rant about various CEOs portrayed in this excellent documentary, I think that the best way to get my point across is to make you guys go and watch this. I am sure that there won’t be a single person left who won’t be infuriated and amused (in a very dark way) by the statements made in the Inside Job. The documentary attempts to explain the main reasons behind the recent financial crisis and track down the main puppeteers. It is largely a collection of interviews of an impressive rank: everyone from George Soros and an escort service owner to the French finance minister had a say. However, it is the people incriminated by the documentary who made the greatest contributions to its entertainment value.

I think that I must have developed wrinkles on my forehead because of frowning so much. It’s one thing to read about the financial developments, and another to see the actual people involved, try to defend themselves and come up with shaky explanations of their actions. Perhaps it is my socialist roots showing, but my god, do these men deserve a flogging!

From a cinematographic point of view, the film is dynamic and manages to explain the reasons behind the crisis in a very clear way that will make even the most humanities-orientated brain buzz with recognition. As for the interviewees, they must be studied by actors for their apparent superiority, airs of self-importance and absolutely preposterous attempts at keeping a straight face. Many people in the audience laughed, in disbelief, I expect, at their reasoning. Of course, every story needs to be seen from both sides, but in this case, the facts speak for themselves.

So yes. Go watch it. It is highly educational. I don’t know where my new obsession with “issues” is coming from, first a post on feminism, now this anti-banking propaganda. I’d better go and review something warm and fuzzy like “No Strings Attached” next, so that my sense of justice will finally be lulled by plastic utopia.