The movie “Margin Call” directed by J.C. Chandor gives a troubling view of the financial world and especially those who run it.
Each time a new level of management is brought in, they need a simpler explanation of what is happening from Peter Sullivan (Zachary Quinto).
“Speak to me as you might to a young child, or a golden retriever. It wasn’t brains that got me here, I can assure you of that” says John Fuld (Jeremy Irons) to Sullivan who seems to be the only one who understands what is happening.
I don’t expect top executives to understand all of the complex risk equations, but they should be able to talk to their employees and understand the financial lingo. It is troubling that the people making decisions for influential banks that affect the entire world’s economy need things to be explained to them as if a child.
In the end, the final decision comes down to Fuld who openly admits, “I don’t get any of this stuff.” He therefore makes his decision to sell off all of the toxic assets with nothing but his own interests in mind, despite the disapproval from Sam Rogers (Kevin Spacey). If you admittedly know very little about something, it is usually a good idea to listen to someone who does. Fuld chooses to ignore Rogers’ advice and to instead minimize the damage done to the firm at the cost of his employee’s careers and the bank’s relationship with its competitors.
Unfortunately I do believe this to be a realistic account of Wall Street and the financial world. The ethics practiced in the financial world are not a strong suit by any means. In order for banks to be successful they must keep the focus on the bottom line and this sometimes leads to acting unethically. This exemplifies how guys such as Fuld rise to the top and others such Rogers get passed up for promotions (another common theme throughout the movie). Rogers hesitates and thinks about the repercussions of his actions while Fuld looks to simply save the firm as much as possible at any and all costs.
-Tyler J. Tokarczyk
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