The film chronicles the 2008 financial crisis, focusing on the collapse of Lehman Brothers investment bank and the subsequent ripple effects on the global economy. As the firm's negotiations with potential buyers fail due to toxic assets and regulatory obstacles, the firm declares bankruptcy, triggering market chaos. Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson (Hurt) and Federal Reserve Chair Ben Bernanke (Giamatti) lead efforts to stabilize the system, including rescuing AIG and lobbying Congress to pass the Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP).
In 2008, years of deregulation by successive Nixon, Clinton and Bush administrations has resulted in a housing market crisis, forcing governmental rescue of mortgage lenders Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, and the investment bankBear Stearns. With Lehman Brothers’ stock price plummeting, CEO Richard Fuld suggests to US Treasury SecretaryHenry Paulson aka Hank, that an investment from Warren Buffett might restore confidence in the firm against short sellers. Paulson passes on the message and Buffett makes an offer; however, Fuld turns it down for being pricey. He also fires top Lehman executives before important negotiations with South Korean investors. Lehmans’s new President, Bart McDade is near to receiving an offer, but Fuld’s insistence that real estate assets be included frustrates negotiators, who renege. Lehman’s stock reaches single-digits as market closes on Friday, September 12, with the bank’s future uncertain.
Bank of America, the only large US buyer for Lehman, expects federal guarantees from Paulson, but he rejects funding any more bailouts in an election year. Instead, Paulson wishes to pass on Lehman’s liability to the banks. Working with Ben Bernanke and Timothy Geithner, he summons major Wall Street CEOs to the Federal Reserve, in an emergency meeting to discuss Lehman’s potential bankruptcy. CEOs Jamie Dimon and Lloyd Blankfein of JPMorgan Chase and Goldman Sachs respectively, offer to facilitate a Lehman buyout, but Bank of America announces a merger with Lehman’s competitor, Merrill Lynch. Their main US buyer out, Lehman now rests hopes on UK bank Barclays, but British banking regulators refuse to move without shareholder approval. The month-long process will dash hopes of rescuing the bank. With the Asian market opening and no imminent buyers in sight, Lehman declares bankruptcy on September 15.
The stock market falls sharply on the news. Paulson is inundated by calls over his blunder in letting Lehman fail. The next day, an $85 billion federal loan is announced to struggling insurance giant, AIG - deemed ‘too big to fail’ - further casting aspersions on the government’s actions. With the market in disarray, banks stop making loans, and Bernanke sees it devolving into the Great Depression of 1929. Paulson’s advisor, Neel Kashkari, suggests buying out toxic assets worth $700 billion, to relieve pressure on the banks. A draft is written up, but Congress rejects the proposal. Paulson is then forced to contend with Republican Presidential candidate, John McCain, who wants to politicise the issue in hopes of saving his failing campaign against Democratic nominee, Barack Obama. Paulson sternly talks him down and the bill passes on its second attempt, but his team later discovers that the proposal is untenable.
While discussing solutions, federal cash injections to failing banks is brought up. Paulson worries government intervention in private bank operations could set a dangerous precedent. With options running out though, he convenes a meeting with major bank CEOs to introduce the TARP program. Banks are expected to use cash injections of $125 billion to ease credit conditions, but no formal restrictions are placed. Privately, Paulson’s advisors lament that the government is being dictated terms by the same institutions that enabled the crisis in the first place. An epilogue reveals that banks used the injections to fund large bonuses to themselves instead. The market freefall ceased in 2009, while Wall Street compensation continued to rise, reaching $135 billion by 2010.[1]
On review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, the film holds an approval rating of 74%, based on 27 reviews, and an average rating of 6/10.[3] On Metacritic, the movie received a weighted average score of 67/100 from 17 reviews, indicating "generally favorable reviews".[4]
This page is based on this Wikipedia article Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply. Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.
