The Flaw by David Sington - Movie Review Example

The paper "The Flaw by David Sington" is a good example of a movie review on finance and accounting. Anyone mentioning the global financial crisis is almost sure to create a disbelieving reaction in most individuals. We are all aware of its existence, and also that things occurred like the subprime mortgages, people lost a lot of money, and the taxes of our nation flooded to the help of the very institutions which were to blame for the global financial crisis. The movie; The Flaw directed by David Sington takes us through what caused the 2008 banking crisis. The actors in the movie include Robert Frank, Robert Shiller, Dan Ariely, Joseph Stiglitz, and Robert Wade (Sington). The title of the movie originates from Alan Greenspan; chairman of the Federal Reserve. He made an open remark that there was a ‘flaw’ in the capitalistic world.

The strongest point of the movie is the way it covers the complex subject of economics in a simple and interesting way. The film’s director cleverly takes complex concepts in economics and makes them understood to the lay audience. The greed of the bankers sent the global economy into its worst performance ever. In the film, Ferguson's Inside Job shows the manner in which politicians and bank CEOs together brought this situation into being (Bradshaw). Even though the movie is less journalistic, it is more lenient to the white-collar players who were involved. Sington shows us that the banking crisis in The Flaw was caused by a boom in the house mortgages as well as the securities based on those mortgages. Sington does a very good job by putting emphasis that most of the activities were based on financing, for instance, borrowing more cash on existing mortgaged property, time and again to cover other debts. The entertaining and smart film comes up with an intellectual framework of what happened and then shows the effects in the real world.

The film goes back in time to determine the reason why most Americans chose the risky mortgages. The movie shows how people with so much wealth spent on big houses destroying the whole market. In 1 hour and 20 minutes, the movie shifts between economic policies and wealth redistribution, which led to huge debt levels.  

The film has no commentary like Michael Moore’s Capitalism: A Love Story. In addition, the movie moves at a good pace with David mixing thoughtful interviews with borrowers, brokers, and bankers, as well as economics with animations and graphics,  got from post-war cartoons to show the benefits of a free market. The interviews provide a narrative that creates a cohesive and thorough picture of what happened. All these people failed to comprehend the physic’s basic principle that in the end, every bubble has to burst.

What makes this film stand out is the manner in which it exposes our economic system has shifted in favor of the super-wealthy. As a living documentary of the 2008 global financial catastrophe, the film shows to the viewers the growing inequality of incomes, unchecked capitalism, and the widening gap between the wealthy and the rest of us. Greed is considered as one of the factors that contributed to the crisis. From the movie, we can learn that 0.1% of people had about 40% of the nation’s money.  As cited by (Holland), 0.1 percent richest Americans earn 12% of the total annual income.

Even though the movie is informative and entertaining, it has various weaknesses. First, the film does address a global picture of the financial crisis while focusing only on America. Second, the film is not completely clear on what it understands capitalism’s flaw is. Third, it does not provide future solutions in case such a thing occurs again. Lastly, the film also lacks the understanding and insight of the Inside Job. In general; however, Sington has made a film that is hugely entertaining and insightful. Sington boldly tries to address the issues that resulted in the financial crisis and make someone understand what happened in America in 2008.