Aiden Gillen (Game of Thrones) leads an ensemble cast in this BBC-produced film about the recent financial crisis, focusing in particular on the practice of selling discount mortgages and the terrible results. Gillen plays an executive in an investment firm that watches the house of cards collapse – a business which he already sacrificed his family life to build. We also see a front-line salesman with no conscience (Dominic Cooper) sell one of the mortgages to an old schoolmate (Joseph Mawle) who wants to get off one of Britain’s council estates.
This is not a bad film, it certainly gives us the broad strokes of what went terribly wrong in this financial sector; my only complaint is that due to its relatively short length and its determination to focus on three different storylines, it feels like it skims the surface a bit. It feels like a really quick season of The Wire, when it could have been expanded and deepened to reflect a greater complexity. Still, it is well worth a look. Game of Thrones fans, watch for Alfie Allen in a supporting role as well.
