International Business in the Margin Call - Movie Review Example

Margin Call Movie Review Summary The movie starts with employees Seth Bregman(Penn Badgley), PeterSullivan (Zachary Quinto) and Will Emerson(Paul Bettany) who work at an investment firm, watch as human resource employees come into the work area to sack more people in what is a normal busy day. The human resource personnel locate Peter’s boss Eric Dale (Stanley Tucci), who becomes a victim of a recent sacking program by the firm. They are too hesitant for him to leave the premises that they don’t even let him finish up on the project that he was currently working on. On his way out, he hands a hard drive to Peter who has not been sacked and tells him to finish the job he has been working on and to be careful. Later in a staff meeting, Sam Rogers (Kevin spacey) reveals to the remaining employees that the company only sacked the underperforming staff thus retaining its best employees as he says, ”they were good people and good at their jobs, but you were better. ”.When working hours are over, Peter stays behind to work on the unfinished project as the other employees go to celebrate that they haven’t been sacked. Upon completion, he realizes that their firm is hanging on a whisker in the market. He contacts Will (his supervisor) who looks at the findings and calls his boss Sam. Seeing that he can’t handle that big an issue, Sam calls his superiors to an emergency meeting through the night, while at the same time a helicopter brings in the CEO John Tuld (Jeremy irons).Two opinions come to motion as they discuss which actions to take. Jared Cohen (Simon Baker) thinks they should sell all the available firms toxic assets when it’s still early since the market does not know of their worthlessness, because as they figured would soon know as opposed to Sam’s strong objection. This opinion is also shared by John Tuld. However, it is john’s mandate to decide which opinion to implement. It’s revealed that Sarah Robinson (Demi Moore) who is the chief risk management officer tried to warn John of the current matter about a year ago, an opinion which he declined. Will and Seth are sent to get Eric who has now arrived at his place. Against his will, Sam implements John’s strategy when the market opens. Sarah and Eric sit in a room earning lots of cash the whole day until the market closes. Sam decides to resign but john talks him into staying for 24 more months, while Peter is promoted. After all, they just survived another financial day as usual. In the final end it all comes back to the main business objective:”survival and success”. Analysis This movie is just an example of what is currently happening in the modern world which is so much business oriented. John says that for you to succeed in business you have to be first, smarter or cheat. For example in the movie, we learn that John’s firm looks to survive not caring about what they have to do even it means lying to the normal trader about the stocks. Surprisingly, when Jared comes up with this idea, no one in the meeting other than Sam really challenges his opinion because they are all aware that implementing his idea was the only way of meeting the firm’s goals and avoid heavy losses. We learn that the main business cycle includes buying and selling of products and services and that the cycle cannot be broken unless one is willing to take the heavy consequences that come with it. The firm hires different firm to come and conduct the sacking process. This leads to almost 80% of the employees being shipped off. This is a great strategy employed by firms in order not to take direct blame and endless questions from the sacked employees. We learn that mysterious sacking of employees by a firm creates tension among the workers. This is made clear by Seth and Peter who are scared of losing their jobs. Seth even goes ahead and asks Will if he will get fired. It’s also clear that workers are motivated through promotions as Sam tells the remaining employees to work up and fill the void seats left by their seniors who just got fired. It’s official to have a meeting with an employee being sacked to inform him/her as the kindliest way to show gratitude towards the services they have rendered to the firm for the period they have worked there. Companies are always looking forward to containing their customers as well as get new ones from their competitors. It is clear that simple mistakes or decisions that big companies/firms make affect a great number of individuals. Themes and conclusion Determination: Peter stays at the office even after working hours as his friend go partying in order to see out what his former boss was working on. Determination is also seen as the senior company officials including the CEO spend the whole night at the premises discussing the serious issues affecting their firm. Their determination finally pays as we see that they already have a conclusion by the morning. Unity: Seth and Peter are sad to see their boss leave. Seth still asks their now former boss Eric (while escorting him out) about their fate as if he is still their boss. This can be vital for a firm as it shows harmony between staff which leads to better performance and results from the projects done by the firm. They all wish him the best as he departs. Seth tells Peter that he is glad that peter is ‘alive’. It’s evident that Seth and Peter are scared of being sacked. Seth goes ahead and asks Will who seems to know more on who leaves and who stays. Motivation: After the sacking is complete, Sam talks to the left bunch of employees and motivates them thus making them feel wanted as he tells them “you are all here for a reason”. This motivation is good for the long term goals of the firm because of the increase in performance by the left employees as they don’t want to be sacked in the future while also targeting to fill the spaces left by those employees who were sacked. Ignorance: This is clear at the start as when Eric tells Will that there is important work to be looked upon, he just shrugs him off and tells him that that was not his problem anymore. It’s clear that if Peter never looked at his boss’ unfinished project it would have caught the firm by surprise which would have led to immediate collapse of the firm and they would have had nothing to do about it. Also clearly notable when Peter and Seth go at a club instead of locating Eric as was the job assigned to them by their supervisor. The CEO John openly tells Peter that it wasn’t brains that actually got him at the post while other members of the staff still at the meeting. About a year ago Sarah had tried to warn the CEO about this scenario but he assumed it was nothing by then. Fraud: Sarah and Jared, have committed fraud and thus they are afraid of being exposed if the company goes down. Will says that Eric’s house was not build by legal money while he himself acquired 2.5 million which he carelessly spent in a short period of time. In an interview with the film’s writer/director, J.C. Chandor says,” the firm knows that they are the first to get this information, so we made it weird that the firm should not think or care what other firms are doing that night. Their only thought would be what they have to do” Works cited Chander, Jeffrey. propublica.org. N.p., 23 Nov 2012. Web. 23 Feb 2014. http://www.propublica.org/making-margin-call-an-interview-with-writer-director-j.c.-chandor/ Margin Call. Dir .Jeffrey Chander. Lionsgate , Benaroya Pictures, 2011. Joe Jenckes . Web. 23 Feb 2014 Read More