The Big Short

A look into one of the most fascinating events of the 21st century. The Big Short displays how the culmination of greed and unregulated capitalism, transformed Wall Street into a hub for fraud and illegality.  It critiques the gross lack of regulation within the finance sector, as well as the sheer number of cunts on Wall Street blinded by their singular desire for money. You almost have to laugh when they introduce CDOs, which seem like bottom of the barrel, only for Selena Gomez to explain the most horrifying financial investment imaginable: Synthetic CDOs.  The dehumanisation of people, greed and blatant dishonesty are softened by the humour of Steve Carrell and, in particular, Ryan Gosling. Yet the film never lets the audience avoid the sad truth. The banks don’t lose. Such incomprehensible mismanagement and malpractice didn’t lead to the fall of major banking institutions and implementation of regulation. Instead, regular people lost their savings, pensions, and homes. The most pessimistic part of it all is that, in reality, it’s completely unavoidable. There are too many vested interests, and money-hungry firms for it not to occur again and again and again.