The movie Margin Call criticized the economy and strategies of high-profile businesses. The film depicted a 24-hour critical period at a large investment bank where the company had to choose whether to be honest with its clients and risk failure, or to deceive clients and make off with the profits. Margin Call was set in 2008 during the financial crisis.
One of the assertions the movie made was that financial work did not have any truly beneficial outcomes for society. At one point in the film, CEO John Tuld (Jeremy Irons) told Floor Head Sam Rogers (Kevin Spacey) that money was made up. Tuld was making the point that dollars were no more than pieces of paper and only had value because people gave them value.
On the other hand, Margin Call portrayed physical labor as being rewarding and serving society well. The movie mentioned two specific examples of physical labor with tangible outcomes: engineering and ditch digging. Eric Dale (Stanley Tucci), risk management head for the floor, told Will Emerson (Paul Bettany), trading desk head, that he used to be an engineer. Dale described a bridge he once helped make that saved commuters copious miles of driving over the years. I interpreted this as meaning that engineering was rewarding because it saved people something real: time. When Rogers was frustrated with the way the company was handling the situation, he exclaimed that he might as well be digging ditches because then he would at least have something to show for his work. The film ends with Rogers digging a hole where he can bury his dead dog. I thought this exemplified how Rogers was finally able to do something meaningful with his time that produced tangible results.
- Olivia Davis
- Olivia Davis
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