Inside Job

Filmmaker Ferguson (No End in Sight) scrutinizes the underlying causes of the 2008 financial crisis and parcels out blame in this 2011 Academy Award-winning documentary. Using file footage, onscreen graphics, interviews, and narration by actor Matt Damon, Ferguson lays out how government deregulation, financial innovation, and industry emphasis on short-term profits first created the housing bubble and then exacerbated the fallout when it burst. In riveting scenes from congressional hearings and sometimes contentious interviews, Ferguson paints a portrait of greed and malfeasance. He shows how financial industry execs reaped exorbitant compensation while destroying their companies, how financial experts gave favorable opinions on subjects from which they benefited financially, and how the revolving door of business bigs entering/leaving government service raises questions regarding their objectivity. Ferguson supplies an especially absorbing segment where he uses tiny Iceland's financial failure as a microcosm of the global crisis. Though covering now familiar ground, Ferguson manages to fuse the various facets of the crisis into a lucid and spellbinding account; highly recommended for all viewers.—Lawrence R. Maxted, Gannon Univ. Lib., Erie, PA