Inside Job

Being an Economics student and with my "passion" for the subject diminishing daily I thought I would watch the 2011 Oscar winning Documentary, Inside Job, to try and spark some interest!

It charts the demise of the financial market, initially in Iceland and then in the US and uncovers the people behind it. With Matt Damon as the narrator, Director Charles Ferguson has given it some "sex appeal", perhaps opening it up a larger audience than would have otherwise watched it. His neutral, unsympathetic tone of voice is brilliant in presenting shocking facts in a matter of fact way and he delivers the complicated intricacies of the crisis in simple, understandable terms. There are many breathtaking shots of Iceland and Manhattan which also help to break up the exhausting avalanche of Stock Exchange hatred!

Obviously, Inside Job is highly bias against the Investment Banks, Mortgage Brokers etc. and I do take that into account. Similarly with the editing of the interviews, I'm slightly sceptical as to whether they ran as filmed. However, and this is a huge however, it is impossible to watch this and not finish absolutely despising Capitalism and Politics. It is unrelenting in its assassination of anyone and everyone to do with corporate giants like Merryl Lynch and Goldman Sachs who acted breathtakingly greedily and immaturely. I literally cried out expletives on a minute by minute basis as it methodically lays out on a plate what went on over the last decade. I was surprised to see the problems were highlighted to began as far back as the 80s which served to create further anguish at how this was allowed to happen.

To my horror, an economist, Feldstein, whose papers I'm being told to read, is signalled out as a key player in successfully resisting regulation on the infamous Sub prime Market. I cannot describe how ridiculous some of the decisions made, by massively powerful people, seem. I may be a touch naive as to their world but there is no defence in what many of them seem to claim that "everyone would do it". Seeing the footage of the CEO's of failed Banks squirming under questioning was highly entertaining but then you learn that not one of them has been charged, for anything! Obscene

Even president Obama, who I've always liked, has re-employed several of the very people at the top of these organisations responsible for crippling America to his administration!! There are dozens of moments where I thought "wtf how can that happen" and "oh my god are you an absolute idiot". The shock and awe nature of this documentary has left me fuming and there are many more equally unbelievable revelations I don't wish to expose you to. I implore you to watch this skillfully and professionally made picture as it will at worst challenge your faith in the whole systems that guide us and at best leave you, like me, wishing you could run into one of these men and punch them in the face!