The Big Short
The U.S. mortgage crisis of 2005 is told in three distinct but related stories. Michael Burry is an ex-physician who has become a Scion Capital hedge-fund manager. He traded his traditional office clothes for shorts and bare feet, as well as a Supercuts haircut. Burry believes the US housing bubble is about to burst in the coming years. Burry has complete autonomy within his company, and can do what he likes. So Burry continues to place a bet against the US housing market with banks. They are happy to take Burry’s proposal, which is something that has not happened before in American history. Because the banks think Burry is a crackpot, they are certain that they will be successful in the deal. Jared Vennett, Deutschebank’s investor, learns about Burry’s activities and believes that he can also cash in on his beliefs. Mark Baum is an idealist fed up of the corruption within the financial sector and makes a blunderous phone call to FrontPoint Partners. Baum and his associates work in a close knit environment under Morgan Stanley. They decide to team up with Vennett, despite their distrust of him. They believe Burry’s information is incorrect and that the bond agencies have overrated most mortgages. The banks are collating sub-prime mortgages in AAA packages. Charlie Geller, Jamie Shipley and others are small players in Brownfield’s $30 million garage start-up. Vennett has a prospectus. They want to get in on the action, but don’t have the formal clout, so they call Ben Rickert (retired investment banker) to assist them. These three groups are based on the assumption that banks don’t understand the world and the economy must lose. This means suffering for the investor who relies on financial institutions. Baum may be uncomfortable with this latter part. Baum may not like this aspect. –Huggo
Director: Adam McKay
Actors: Brad Pitt, Christian Bale, Hamish Linklater, John Magaro, Melissa Leo, Ryan Gosling, Steve Carell
Country: United States
