Inside Job (2010)

The 4th of the 5 Oscar documentary nominees for me. I'm very far behind on my blogging because I actually watched this a couple nights before the Oscars aired. Documentaries can be just as much about the director as they are about the subject matter, and Charles Ferguson's professionalism made this film easily the favorite this year. Ferguson directed  No End in Sight, the 2007 documentary that lost the Oscar to Taxi to the Dark Side. I felt the voters got that completely wrong, and was glad to see Ferguson take the Oscar home this time.

First off, this documentary is about the financial meltdown and explains in layman's terms how everything went down. It was interesting to learn that after the cold war, a number of engineers that had been spending all of the efforts on nuclear defense shifted to the stock market, engineering ways to make money. The film takes a look at Iceland and why and how they went through a big crash. The real kicker for me was that Ferguson not only was able to get interviews with a number of important people, it was willing to ask hard questions. When they started in on how "complicated" these things were, he was quick to make it clear he understood and wasn't going to let them out easily. The graphs and charts were easy to follow and looked very professional.

I highly suggest checking this film out. I suggest pausing in the middle and taking a 5 minute break because at times it is like a two hour intense lecture with a lot of information. I needed a break to stay focused. I loved GasLand, but this one really deserved to win.

Vote: 10/10

IMDB Link: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1645089/

Share: