Friday, October 8, 2010

The Most Important Movie of 2010

In today's New York Times A.O. Scott positively reviews Inside Job, a new documentary about the global financial collapse. Produced by Charles Ferguson, who was responsible for No End in Sight, which was a brilliant analysis of the fiasco of the post-Iraq War occupation, this looks to be the most important film of the year. 
Call me a crazy globalization geek, but I cannot wait to see this as soon as possible. (If anybody knows if or when it's showing on the big screen in Northeast Ohio, please let me know. I don't want to wait until it's out on DVD.) I really do think every American citizen who cares about their country ought to watch this.

I say this because I think everyone needs to understand how our economy got into its current mess. And the way our economy got into its current mess is mainly due to the financial shock caused by aggressive, irresponsible lending by global banks.

Unlike Michael Moore, whose Capitalism: A Love Story was silly, Ferguson is not a cranky partisan. He has a PhD in political science from MIT, and he got into filmmaking by accident. He's an academic policy analyst at heart, and he applies his skills in his films. While No End in Sight was tightly focused on what happened after the Iraq invasion (in part because Ferguson actually supported Bush's policies beforehand), Inside Job delves into the deeper causes of the financial breakdown. (Here's the trailer.)

If you care about the world, you need to engage the story told in this film.

1 comment:

  1. I just heard an interview w/ him on NPR the other day. I didn't know his background though--interesting! Trailer looks good.

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