Inside Job (2010 film)

Inside Job is a 2010 American documentary film, directed by

Inside Job
Charles Ferguson, about the late-2000s financial crisis. Ferguson,
who began researching in 2008,[3] said the film is about "the
systemic corruption of the United States by the financial services
industry and the consequences of that systemic corruption",[4]
amongst them conflicts of interest of academic research, which led
to improved disclosure standards by the American Economic
Association.[5] In five parts, the film explores how changes in the
policy environment and banking practices helped create the
financial crisis.

The film was acclaimed by film critics, who praised its pacing,
research, and exposition of complex material. It was screened at
the 2010 Cannes Film Festival in May 2010 and, on February 27,
2011, won Best Documentary Feature at the 83rd Academy
Awards.

Synopsis
Theatrical release poster
The film begins by examining the effects of the government of
Iceland's shift toward deregulation in 2000, which included the Directed by Charles
privatization of its banks. When Lehman Brothers went bankrupt Ferguson
and AIG collapsed, Iceland and the rest of the world went into a Written by Charles
global recession. Ferguson
Chad Beck
Part I: How We Got Here Adam Bolt
Produced by Audrey Marrs
The American financial industry was regulated from 1941 to 1981, Charles
followed by a long period of deregulation. At the end of the Ferguson
1980s, a savings and loan crisis cost taxpayers approximately
Narrated by Matt Damon
$124 billion. In the late 1990s, the financial sector had
consolidated into a few giant firms. In March 2000, the Internet Cinematography Svetlana Cvetko
Stock Bubble burst because investment banks promoted Internet Kalyanee Mam
companies they knew would fail, resulting in $5 trillion in investor Edited by Chad Beck
losses. In the 1990s, derivatives became popular in the industry
Adam Bolt
and added instability. Efforts to regulate derivatives were thwarted
by the Commodity Futures Modernization Act of 2000, backed by Music by Alex Heffes
several key officials. In the 2000s, the industry was dominated by Distributed by Sony Pictures
five investment banks (Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley, Lehman Classics
Brothers, Merrill Lynch, and Bear Stearns), two financial
conglomerates (Citigroup, JPMorgan Chase), three securitized Release dates May 16, 2010
insurance companies (AIG, MBIA, AMBAC) and the three rating (Cannes)
agencies (Moody's, Standard & Poor's, Fitch). Investment banks October 8, 2010
bundled mortgages with other loans and debts into collateralized (United States)
debt obligations (CDOs), which they sold to investors. Rating Running time 108 minutes
agencies gave many CDOs AAA ratings. Subprime loans led to
Country United States
predatory lending. Many home owners were given loans they
could never repay. Language English
Budget $2 million[1]

Part II: The Bubble (2001–2007) Box office $7.9 million[2]

During the housing boom, the ratio of money borrowed by investment banks versus the banks' own assets
reached unprecedented levels. Speculators could buy credit default swaps (CDSs), which were akin to an
insurance policy, to bet against CDOs they did not own. Numerous CDOs were backed by subprime
mortgages. Goldman-Sachs sold more than $3 billion worth of CDOs in the first half of 2006. Goldman
also bet against the low-value CDOs, telling investors they were high-quality. The three biggest ratings
agencies contributed to the problem, with AAA-rated instruments rocketing from a mere handful in 2000 to
over 4,000 in 2006. There were some warnings about the growing risks in the financial system, including
from Raghuram Rajan, then the chief economist of the IMF, who, at the Federal Reserve's 2005 Jackson
Hole conference, identified some risks and proposed policies to address them, though former U.S. Treasury
Secretary Lawrence Summers called his warnings "misguided" and Rajan himself a "luddite".

Part III: The Crisis

The market for CDOs collapsed and investment banks were left with hundreds of billions of dollars in
loans, CDOs, and real estate they could not unload. The Great Recession began in November 2007, and in
March 2008, Bear Stearns ran out of cash. In September, the federal government took over Fannie Mae and
Freddie Mac, which had been on the brink of collapse. Two days later, Lehman Brothers collapsed. These
entities all had AA or AAA ratings within days of being bailed out. Merrill Lynch, on the edge of collapse,
was acquired by Bank of America. Henry Paulson and Timothy Geithner decided that Lehman must go
into bankruptcy, which resulted in a collapse of the commercial paper market. On September 17, the
insolvent AIG was taken over by the government. The next day, Paulson and Fed chairman Ben Bernanke
asked Congress for $700 billion to bail out the banks. The global financial system became paralyzed. On
October 3, 2008, President George W. Bush signed the Troubled Asset Relief Program, but global stock
markets continued to fall. Layoffs and foreclosures continued with unemployment rising to 10% in the US
and the European Union. By December 2008, GM and Chrysler also faced bankruptcy. Foreclosures in the
U.S. reached unprecedented levels.

Part IV: Accountability

Top executives of the insolvent companies walked away with their personal fortunes intact and avoided
prosecution. The executives had hand-picked their boards of directors, which handed out billions in
bonuses after the government bailout. The major banks grew in power and doubled anti-reform efforts.
Many academic economists who had advocated for deregulation for decades and helped shape U.S. policy
still opposed reform after the 2008 crisis. Firms involved were the Analysis Group, Charles River
Associates, Compass Lexecon, and the Law and Economics Consulting Group (LECG). Many of these
economists were paid consultants to companies and other groups involved in the financial crisis, conflicts of
interest that were often not disclosed in their research papers.[6]

Part V: Where We Are Now

Tens of thousands of U.S. factory workers were laid off. The incoming Obama administration's financial
reforms were weak, and there was no significant proposed regulation of the practices of ratings agencies,
lobbyists, or executive compensation. Geithner became Treasury Secretary. Martin Feldstein, Laura Tyson,
and Lawrence Summers were all top economic advisers to Obama. Bernanke was reappointed Chair of the
Federal Reserve. European nations imposed strict regulations on bank compensation, but the U.S. resisted
them.

Reception
The film was met with critical acclaim. On review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, it holds an
approval rating of 98% based on 148 reviews, with an average rating of 8.2/10; the site's "critics
consensus" reads: "Disheartening but essential viewing, Charles Ferguson's documentary explores the 2008
Global Financial Crisis with exemplary rigor."[7] On Metacritic, the film has a weighted average score of
88 out of 100 based on 27 critics, indicating "universal acclaim",[8] and, in 2011, Jason Dietz of Metacritic
ranked the film as the best film yet made about the "ongoing financial crisis".[9]

Roger Ebert described the film as "an angry, well-argued documentary about how the American housing
industry set out deliberately to defraud the ordinary American investor".[10] A. O. Scott of The New York
Times wrote that "Mr. Ferguson has summoned the scourging moral force of a pulpit-shaking sermon. That
he delivers it with rigor, restraint and good humor makes his case all the more devastating".[11] Logan Hill
of New York magazine characterized the film as a "rip-snorting, indignant documentary", noting the
"effective presence" of narrator Matt Damon.[12] Peter Bradshaw of The Guardian said it was "as gripping
as any thriller", and also noted the influence of Michael Moore on the film, which he described as "a Moore
film with the gags and stunts removed".[13]

The film was selected for a special screening at the 2010 Cannes Film Festival. A reviewer writing from
Cannes characterized it as "a complex story told exceedingly well and with a great deal of unalloyed
anger".[14]

Accolades
Date of
Award Category Recipient(s) Result
ceremony
February 27, Best Documentary Charles H. Ferguson
Academy Awards[15] 2011 Feature and Audrey Marrs
Won

Chicago Film Critics December Best Documentary

Nominated
Association Awards[16] 20, 2010 Feature

Directors Guild of December

Best Documentary Won
America Awards[17] 29, 2010

Gotham Independent November

Best Documentary Nominated
Film Awards[18] 29, 2010

Online Film Critics January 3,

Best Documentary Nominated
Society Awards[19] 2011

Writers Guild of February 5, Best Documentary

Won
America Awards[20] 2011 Screenplay
See also
Film portal

Banks portal

Financial crisis of 2007–08 DISCLOSE Act

Emergency Economic Stabilization Act of Wall Street reform
2008 Systemic corruption
Troubled Asset Relief Program

Films and series related to 2007-8 financial crisis

The Mayfair Set (1999) Margin Call (2011)
I.O.U.S.A. (2008) Debtocracy (2011)
Let's Make Money (2008) Too Big to Fail (2011)
Capitalism: A Love Story (2009) Heist: Who Stole the American Dream?
The Last Days of Lehman Brothers (2009) (2011)
Generation Zero (2010) The Big Short (2015)

References
1. (March 2, 2011). "Adam Lashinsky interviews Charles Ferguson regarding 'Inside Job' at the
Commonwealth Club" (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ej-rN1gnMV8) on YouTube.
Retrieved March 22, 2011.
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boxofficemojo.com. IMDb. Retrieved October 25, 2011.
3. www.npr.org/2010/10/01/130272396/a-searing-look-at-wall-street-in-inside-job (https://www.
npr.org/2010/10/01/130272396/a-searing-look-at-wall-street-in-inside-job)
4. (February 25, 2011), "Charlie Rose Interviews Charles Ferguson on his documentary 'Inside
Job'" (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vS0hj4kiqsA) on YouTube. Retrieved October 25,
2011.
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wsj.com/articles/SB10001424052970204294504576613032849864232)
6. Casselman, Ben (January 9, 2012). "Economists Set Rules on Ethics" (https://www.wsj.com/
articles/SB10001424052970203436904577148940410667970). Wall Street Journal.
Retrieved January 9, 2012.
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Interactive. Retrieved May 2, 2019.
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-and-worst-movies-about-the-financial-crisis). Metacritic.
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6/http://rogerebert.suntimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=%2F20101013%2FREVIEWS%
2F101019990). Chicago Sun-Times. Archived from the original (http://rogerebert.suntimes.c
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m/2011/feb/17/inside-job-review). The Guardian.
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External links
Official website (http://www.sonyclassics.com/insidejob)
Inside Job (https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1645089/) at IMDb
Inside Job (https://www.metacritic.com/movie/inside-job) at Metacritic
Inside Job (https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/inside_job_2010) at Rotten Tomatoes
IONCINEMA.com TIFF 2010 Viral: Charles Ferguson's Inside Job (http://www.ioncinema.co
m/news/id/5505/tiff-2010-day-1-charles-fergusons-inside-job)
Radio interview for 'It's The Economy' with Claudia Cragg KGNU (http://ccragg123.libsyn.co
m/-inside-job-the-movie-a-conversation-with-director-charles-ferguson-and-with-professor-ro
bert-pollin-u-mass-amherst-)
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