Let's Make Money (2008)

Great Film overall

I cannot think of one single thing that I would change about this film. The acting is incomparable, the directing deft, and the writing poignantly brilliant.

A movie that not only functions as a solid scarefest but a razor-sharp satire.

It's funny, it's tense, it features two great performances from two actors and the director expertly creates a web of odd tension where you actually don't know what is happening for the majority of the run time.

This is an Austrian documentary movie that deals with money. It was made back in 2008 and director Erwin Wagenhofer made a film on the food industry before that and more recently a brilliant documentary on the education system. So this one here is his take on economy. as always with his works, there is no narrator, but the entire thing is told us from interviewees. There is a Leonard Cohen movie that includes the lyrics "the poor stay poor, the rich get richer" and that is a perfect summary for this film here. I did not understand all the financial context given here, but even with as little interest in and knowledge about economy as myself, it is not difficult to understand the core issues that this film deals with.One of these would be greed. The fact that a very low percentage gets richer and richer results in a very high percentage getting poorer and poorer. Morals are also a central point here and it is sad to see how hardly anybody in the business seems to have them. I will not go much further into detail about the specific aspects that Wagenhofer elaborates on in here, but one of them would be tax havens for example. Basically, the entire film is about how rich people make use of (almost) illegal practices and possibilities in order to become even richer. In my opinion, this documentary gives a good insight into the financial market right now, but even more into the abyss of humans wanting more and more. A sad state of affairs and I agree with the last words from this documentary that we have a dark future ahead of us if we keep going like that. Recommended.

I found this documentary quite good even it touches or addresses only the symptoms of the monetary system.For sure it demonstrates a true state of how things go in the world and the dangerous mind sets some people have develop. They went through a dramatic value shift and they want more and more to control without any consideration to humans and nature. I live in a third world country and see for sure the parallel occurrences.Most people do not confront them sufficiently with the monetary system, especially if they benefit greatly from it like North Americans and Europeans do. It always comes as a surprise to see such a movie coming from those camps.People aren't aware that money isn't created by Governments; it comes from private banks. Worse! They do not understand that all money is dept money and don't see the direct relationship between wealth and dept creation. Most people aren't even aware of the destructive dynamics of interests and compound interests. They are very important topics to be understood and addresses, especially the consequences they have. They have been hidden and declared taboo topics for the public and this for generations.

Frankly, I wasn't too hot about Wagenhofer's previous documentary "We Feed The World", which dealt with the food industry. Now, he's tackling the much harder to "photograph" financial system, and he pins it right down. Wagenhofer documents some egregious examples of the global financial system going haywire, and he nails down the right cases. Those gargantuan, deserted Spanish golf course castles will stay in your mind. So will the sheer, pharaonean poverty of cotton pickers and granite maimers (for a better word) in Burkina Faso.Film is always thick on emotion, thin on information. This documentary offers a few mental stepping stones. Tomorrow I'm going to look up some of the points mentioned in this film. That's about all you can ask from a good documentary.

If you expect a serious documentary this film will greatly disappoint. The film is mainly composed of a series of out of context comments from different people and of how the western world exploits developing countries.I have never seen a more populistic film than this one made after 1945. All it does is try to make people feel bad about the third world and announce the end of capitalism. Anybody with a basic understanding of economics will see through this 'documentary' and recognize the film's left wing agenda.It's too bad. This film could have been good. With sticking to facts relevant to the banking system and thorough research and knowledge of the economic sector they could have made a great documentary. Instead, all they do is try to scare the 'small man' who doesn't know much about economics.And come on, bashing capitalism in these times of recession is sooo original...