Inside Job an Infuriating Indictment
Charles Fegurson’s (No End in Sight) latest documentary Inside Job is arguably the single most infuriating film I’ve seen all year. Just a few days before a local Seattle press screening I went to a late-night preview of Jackass 3D. There was a scene towards to end where I almost had to leave the theatre, not because I hated the movie or hadn’t enjoyed some of what I’d seen, but because it was making me physically sick. I literally thought I was going to vomit, and for the life of me I’m not entirely sure I how I made it through until the pyrotechnic finale is way beyond me.
Not-so-good news of the world in Inside Job © Sony Pictures Classics
Pretty much all of Inside Job gave me that very same feeling. An examination of the economic collapse and the multitude of things that darn near brought us, and the entire world, to ruination, this movie made me so freakishly upset and angry I was almost sick to my stomach. Large portions of it had me twisting and turning in my seat to such a degree I’m sure it would have been distracting had someone been sitting behind me, a lot of what Ferguson documents so damning and ill-inducing they’re difficult to describe.
Split into five parts (“How We Got Here,” “The Bubble,” “The Crisis,” “Accountability,” “Where We Are Now”), Ferguson systematically shows how Wall Street took over the economic systems of the United States and thusly grabbed unforeseen massive political power at the same time. Going from Regan, to Bush, to Clinton, to Bush and finally to Obama, the movie doesn’t take prisoners and holds just about everyone accountable, pointing fingers at both political parties for allowing this overthrow to take place.
The movie is one-sided, and there are times Ferguson’s confrontational interviews can seem a bit to Michael Moore like, but the facts here are absolutely unavoidable, and the conclusions the filmmaker is able to draw are supported on so many fronts its hard to disagree with just about any of them. All the “i”’s are dotted and every “t” is crossed, and while information overload is a possibility the director presents with such simple matter-of-factness that certainly wasn’t a case for me.
Does a movie like this one change minds or influence opinions? Not for those already entrenched in their own personal ideological mindsets, but for those few still open to debate and discussion there is so much food for thought here it’s hard not to imagine an impact could be made. Problem is, it’s hard not to think that the only ones who are going to watch this are those who already agree with its thesis, and preaching to the converted sadly isn’t going to change a darn thing.
Neither is the fact that the same people that helped engineer and design this mess are the very same ones charged with trying to dig us out of it. While Wall Street reform has passed, the needed teeth required to make it effective are still absent. A movie like Inside Job is a call to action much in the same way that Waiting for “Superman” was, but when the battle is being fought by those already bought and paid for by the bad guys it’s hard to imagine success of any kind at all is even close to a possibility.
Film Rating: êêê (out of 4)
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