Documentary Post 1: Inside Job

The 2008 economic crisis was one that rocked the world. Every single country in the world plunged into a recession; millions of homes foreclosed over bad mortgages, stocks plummeted, gigantic banks needed bailouts, and unprecedented amounts of individuals went unemployed. How could such a crises happen? Inside Job, narrated by Matt Damon(a Harvard graduate himself), explores the answer to this question. The basic premise of Inside Job is that the crises could have easily been avoided if it weren't for the greed of the banking industry. Inside Job also exposes who the banking industry has infested the government itself leading to dangerous deregulation and more risky lending on CDOs and faulty mortgages. Even more frightening, is that the banking industry has infiltrated economic classes at top universities such as Harvard, with top executives also being professors creating a conflict of interest. Inside Job takes interviews from those who saw the crises coming and also those who caused the mess but fail to realize the true consequences of their foolish actions. It is a documentary that left me astounded, shocked, and outraged.

Inside Job is one of the slickest documentaries I have ever watched, and I have seen many. From the beginning Inside Job seems to bill itself as more of a movie than anything else. The introduction starts out with flying cutover scenes of New York City highlighting the exorbitant lifestyles of New York executives. Of course, the most effective device used in Inside Job was all of the interviews of both the economists that knew that the economy would crash and those of the individuals who caused the crisis and failed to recognize the mess they were creating. Inside Job was very effective at stumping the interviewees who brought upon the crises making them seem incredibly foolish and causing the viewer to even laugh a few times at the ridiculousness. Inside Job also effectively debunks the myth that the economic crises was very complicated to understand and that it could not be avoided. Using flowcharts and diagrams the economic concepts behind the crisis are easily taught and allow the viewer to fully understand the true cause of the crisis and how stupidly simple it is. The documentary also makes full use of b-roll footage to supplement the arguments presented. Many of the footage is from C-SPAN and government hearings on the crisis issue to help portray the problems that the banking industry had created. Inside Job is a documentary that many saw essential to understand the true root causes of the 2008 crises. It is a documentary that would go on to win an Oscar and received great critical acclaim. The documentary was incredibly effective in riling up its audience and will hopefully lead to prevention of repeating mistakes made in the past.