Plunder: The Crime of Our Time

Danny Schechter's documentary—or, more accurately, cinematic essay—is essentially a jeremiad against the banking and investment machinations that created the subprime mortgage bubble and led to the financial meltdown of 2008. Composed of archival footage, graphics, interviews with experts and insiders, and Schechter's own rants, it's essentially a follow-up to his earlier film In Debt We Trust (VL-4/07), which focused on the dangers posed by escalating American consumer borrowing. Plunder discusses at length the opaqueness of complicated trading instruments such as derivatives, and the duplicity of money managers like Bernie Madoff—subjects that have already been extensively covered in other documentaries, as has the righteous anger over the government bailout of major banks while individuals lost their own homes (see Michael Moore's Capitalism: A Love Story, reviewed in VL-3/10). What sets Plunder apart, however, is Schechter's accusation of criminality by those who were once known as Wall Street “kings of the universe” and his call for their prosecution, which smartly anticipates the recent government charges brought against Goldman Sachs. An unabashedly activist but also somewhat timely film that suffers a bit from a too-strident tone, DVD extras include a short on late economist John Kenneth Galbraith's views on Wall Street, a featurette on the sexual element of the Wall Street ethos, and an interview of Schechter that's actually a monologue. Recommended, overall. Aud: C, P. (F. Swietek)