Let's Make Money (2008) Reviews

• Business, never personal

  Karl Self2009-09-11

  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.

• Excellent documentary about our global financial system

  solar-212008-11-15

  Let's make money is a very well made documentary which focuses on how money is made and distributed by investors, corporations and the rich elite through the global financial system. I largely agree with the standpoints which are communicated in this movie, however I must admit that it biased towards the "liberal anti- globalisation" camp. It also tends to polarize between the poor, innocent and exploited developing world and the rich and greedy west. All in all this view of the world is probably correct, however reality is more complex and the movie does not mention any specifics in this regard. Nonetheless, very interesting and very enlightening. Definitively worth watching.

• Great cinematography & message, less cohesion

  maurice_anemaat2008-11-24

  Excellent documentary without any disturbing biases. Although not unravelling the question where the bank-money goes to, the used examples are diverse and relevant to the gap issue between the west and the 'emerging countries'. I got to agree though this might be a movie hard to watch, as moderate knowledge of economic terms are needed in order to enjoy and keep up with the story. Also, the connections between the different scenes weren't obvious. Although it all had to do with money and investors, the link between them were vague and not chronological. This tended to be dragging down the movie: you could sense people were waiting for the final scene, as they couldn't figure out which one would be it. I liked the way how globalisation as subject was captured by filming in all these locations, showing how it applies to all these people.

• Anyone with a bank account should see this film

  tngrnmn2008-11-03

  Wagenhofer has done it again. This one is better than all of Michael Moore's films combined because it leaves the audience feeling informed, but not manipulated. The prevailing thought after seeing this film is "what can I do to make it better?" This documentary combines interviews with key people directly involved in strong-arming governments, hiding the owners of trusts whose money has damaged millions of lives, enslaved people in India and Africa and supported laws that allow financial institutions (in London, for example) to operate unregulated in order to maximize profits for a few as they they destroy the lives of many, with outstanding camera work and very clever use of visual and auditory iconography throughout. Just watch it!

• Opens eyes where you might prefer them closed

  Indy722008-11-13

  Release at a time of world wide financial crisis with banks stumbling around the globe is coincidence, but a good one. Do you know what happens with your money? How banks use it to be able to pay the interest they advertised? To fulfill their investors' expectations? I did, partially, but certainly not the whole story. Do we want to know it all? You can say as well: I like beef steaks, but do I want to get to know the cow and the whole process before it is on my plate? If you are not ignoring things and act like an ostrich, then you should be willing to ask this question. The movie tells you the story through the voices of people on top and on bottom of a globalized market, blended in to a composition of pictures that mostly speak by themselves anyway. This is a movie where the slogan 'Let your money work for you' gets a literal meaning. But is it really working for 'you'?