If you haven’t been to see Margin Call, missed it on the cinema listings and/or haven’t rented it yet on DVD – then do yourself a favour and watch it at once. Make no mistake; this is a superb and very under-rated movie that really puts you in the moment of the breaking financial crisis back in 2008.
Yes, there are things wrong with the movie in that it has to try and be all things to most people – so it is dumbed down a little. But if it wasn’t, it would hardly have a mainstream audience so in this way, it bridges the gap really well.
If you don’t know what this movie is all about, then as a brief synopsis, it tells the story of a major New York based investment bank on the evening of the precipice that turned into the global; financial crisis.
Two junior risk analysts and a trading desk head watch as human resources consultants conduct an unannounced mass layoff at the bank on the trading floor, at what was otherwise a normal day of business.
One of the people fired is the boss of the two junior risk analysts, and he tries to alert the consultants and execs at the bank of the risk it is facing – based on the programme he’s been working on.
The consultants take no interest in this and simply want him out of the building, so as he leaves he very briefly tells the more senior of the tow junior analysts about the risks – handing him a memory stick as he leaves. The clever young analyst works on in the evening on the project, managing to finish it off and to discover that the volatility in the bank’s portfolio of mortgage-backed investments could soon topple the entire company.
The junior analyst calls in his colleagues and a more senior analysts played by Kevin Spacey and the plot moves on from there – with ever more senior people getting involved until the CEO, played by Jeremy Irons, takes drastic action to save the bank.
This movie really puts you in the moment more than any other financial-based film ever has done – so don’t miss it.