Inside Job

Not having any advance knowledge of economics, I found the documentary Inside Job surprisingly easy to follow.  Though many of the technical terms were lost on me, the film did a great job of breaking down and explaining all that went in to the economic crisis of 2008. As a director, Charles Ferguson does a wonderful job at making his interviewees come off looking, how do I put this – dumb.  He seems very educated on the topic at hand and is able to ask the tough questions that put his subjects in the hot seat.  Watching this film was interesting to me because at the time that the recession I wasn’t quite aware of what was happening.  At home I saw the effects: the budget getting tighter, laying off our house cleaners, and my mother taking on more jobs.  Little has changed since this time; I have just become more accustomed to that way of life. I found this documentary very interesting with how far back it went to explain the financial down fall, starting with the Reagan administration and connecting it today.  This film helps the viewer in understanding what exactly took place by including Iceland and a smaller scale example.

Here is an article on Iceland’s financial recovery since 2008:

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/07/08/world/europe/icelands-economy-is-mending-amid-europes-malaise.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0

Overall, I feel this film provided me with a lot of information despite the unfamiliar vocabulary, to help me understand just why money became so sparse.

Here is an interview with Charles Ferguson on his film Inside Job where he claims the original cut was much more harsh.