Review of Inside Job (2010) by Kang R — 09 Dec 2011

If you ever wanted to know how the world got itself into it's currently shoddy state of economic affairs but can't figure out the short answer when people try to explain it, this doco by award winner Charles Ferguson should clear up any of your confusion and stimulate your anger centers to sufficiently extreme proportions.

Narrated by Matt Damon, Ferguson traces the cause of the trouble as far back as Reaganomics when banks first started to amalgamate and begin trading on world markets. It was also the first occasion where regulation started to wane through a variety of damning and unequal legislation. Thus begins a tale of corruption and socialist fire which more than successfully hangs Michael Moore out to dry.

Touching on everything from swindling to rogue trading to yuppie excess (complete with mandatory hookers), Inside Job is the archetypal neo-socialist rant guaranteed to stoke what ever fires of outrage may already be burning in the heart of its audience. In particular, the shocking news that banks responsible were more than happy to violate international finance laws and thus create a system where their shareholders could acquire obscene amounts of wealth from weakening the financial situation of the common man is an ignoble truth worth repeating again and again. Are we returning to a sort of modern feudal system where ruthless financial force dictates the elite from everyone else? Is this the sort of future that Marx and Lenin where trying so desperately to avoid? Is there no way of stopping this new economic world order? Whatever the opinion, the evidence herein is particularly damning and on a good day it is safe to say that upon conclusion of this two hours modern tragedy only the most staunchly right-wing viewers will leave the experience without feeling compelled to sing 'The Red Flag'.

The film does have it's flaws. Like Fahrenheit 9/11, Inside Job is very much a case of polemic first and art second. Whilst it can not be denied that the information contained therein is indeed essential viewing for all who care about their future financial well-being, the endless tirade of talking heads coupled with a few meager landscape shots and graphs does beg the question as to whether this would have been better as a pamphlet of academic book rather than a feature film. Over time, the repetition causes the experience to erode substantially, especially the way in which the message about culprits declining to be interviewed becomes predictable to the point of cliche. Like so many documentaries, the focus is more about conveying information, yes, but when the necessary verffremdungseffekt is not conveyed accurately enough it can become difficult to maintain interest, especially given today's impatient mainstream audiences.

All in all, Inside Job is a fantastic documentary and is every bit as relevant to today's day and age as anything by Moore or Morris.