Let's Make Money (2008) User Reviews (11)

Business, never personal

[Karl Self · 8/10 · 11 September 2009]

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-21 · 8/10 · 15 November 2008]

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_anemaat · 8/10 · 24 November 2008]

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.

Opens eyes where you might prefer them closed

[Indy72 · 9/10 · 13 November 2008]

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'?

Anyone with a bank account should see this film

[tngrnmn · 10/10 · 3 November 2008]

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!

let's kill time...

[borkoboardo · 6/10 · 14 November 2008]

It isn't a good idea to send ahead that i fell asleep twice while being at the movies watching this film.

The good things first: Yes, this movie explains the unfairness of modern international trading policies. It shows up the direct contrast between rich and poor countries and how this condition is perceived from both sides. Those who make money almost seem to apologize for their actions but on the other hand don't really feel guilty because "that's the way it is".

In a very simple and direct way the foundations of the current financial crisis are explained, and even I "kinda" understood how this disaster was made possible now. Yes, it is very frustrating and it just shows how irresponsibly our money is being treated by the banks or whoever else we negotiate about our money with.

Unfortunately there is something wrong with the flow of this movie. I don't understand a lot of segments, particularly the "impression scenes". This seems to have become typical for Austrian documentary filmers - to just let the camera roll, catch whatever just happens (which is mostly nothing) and edit it together as an "eternal misery scene". Whereas in documentaries of the last years the statements are edited together so obviously to save time, "Let's make money" takes its time to let people talk, and THIS can be nerve wrecking. Some interviewees are very old and therefore talk VERY slow, so it might take some time until the full sentence is over and when it's said it's very likely that you forgot how it began.

As much as I treasure the content of the film I must admit that I found it extraordinarily boring and hard to watch. I don't know why directors or editors want to test their audience by presenting a film that appears "half done".

But I am sure that this one will earn tons of prizes for the very hot topic and the "unconventional film-making". I for myself have seen way more accessible documentaries that are more informative and don't appear like they would try to be a piece of art.

Conclusion: Great topic/content, very poor presentation!

Very good documentary

[carsteniq · 10/10 · 1 June 2010]

I found this documentary quite good even it touches or addresses only the symptoms of the monetary system.

For sure it demonstrates a true state of how things go in the world and the dangerous mind sets some people have develop. They went through a dramatic value shift and they want more and more to control without any consideration to humans and nature. I live in a third world country and see for sure the parallel occurrences.

Most people do not confront them sufficiently with the monetary system, especially if they benefit greatly from it like North Americans and Europeans do. It always comes as a surprise to see such a movie coming from those camps.

People aren't aware that money isn't created by Governments; it comes from private banks. Worse! They do not understand that all money is dept money and don't see the direct relationship between wealth and dept creation. Most people aren't even aware of the destructive dynamics of interests and compound interests. They are very important topics to be understood and addresses, especially the consequences they have. They have been hidden and declared taboo topics for the public and this for generations.

Wagenhofer succeeds again

[Horst_In_Translation · 6/10 · 11 July 2015]

This is an Austrian documentary movie that deals with money. It was made back in 2008 and director Erwin Wagenhofer made a film on the food industry before that and more recently a brilliant documentary on the education system. So this one here is his take on economy. as always with his works, there is no narrator, but the entire thing is told us from interviewees. There is a Leonard Cohen movie that includes the lyrics "the poor stay poor, the rich get richer" and that is a perfect summary for this film here. I did not understand all the financial context given here, but even with as little interest in and knowledge about economy as myself, it is not difficult to understand the core issues that this film deals with.

One of these would be greed. The fact that a very low percentage gets richer and richer results in a very high percentage getting poorer and poorer. Morals are also a central point here and it is sad to see how hardly anybody in the business seems to have them. I will not go much further into detail about the specific aspects that Wagenhofer elaborates on in here, but one of them would be tax havens for example. Basically, the entire film is about how rich people make use of (almost) illegal practices and possibilities in order to become even richer. In my opinion, this documentary gives a good insight into the financial market right now, but even more into the abyss of humans wanting more and more. A sad state of affairs and I agree with the last words from this documentary that we have a dark future ahead of us if we keep going like that. Recommended.

Sure, stop slavery in the South, enslave the Third World instead

[esoterc_circle · 10/10 · 23 September 2012]

Some of the documentaries being made these days are so poignant - partly due no doubt to the easy availability of info through the internet - that I am being stunned repeatedly! This film states so many shocking facts in less than 2 hours it's almost too much to take in.

The sad thing is that most people in the west still have no idea what the U.S.-led World Bank and I.M.F. (and the corporations behind their decisions) are actually doing to poor Third World countries : the exploitation goes on as if we were still in the 1800's (witness the cotton-pickers in Africa) but now on a much, much larger scale.

If you want to know what is really going on in our age, WATCH this film.

A mockumentary, but not a funny one

[er_monnezza · 2/10 · 16 February 2009]

If you expect a serious documentary this film will greatly disappoint. The film is mainly composed of a series of out of context comments from different people and of how the western world exploits developing countries.

I have never seen a more populistic film than this one made after 1945. All it does is try to make people feel bad about the third world and announce the end of capitalism. Anybody with a basic understanding of economics will see through this 'documentary' and recognize the film's left wing agenda.

It's too bad. This film could have been good. With sticking to facts relevant to the banking system and thorough research and knowledge of the economic sector they could have made a great documentary. Instead, all they do is try to scare the 'small man' who doesn't know much about economics.

And come on, bashing capitalism in these times of recession is sooo original...

Left Wing propaganda

[sclvr · 1/10 · 30 November 2013]

This movie is nothing but left wing garbage. Third world people of color good. Northern Europeans and Americans bad! Yawn. They take you through all of the poorest parts of the third world, and ignore the growing middle class in all of those countries, of course. Anything that does not support the leftist anti-capitalist viewpoint is left out. Badly put together, out of context comments, moralizing, and so on. Blame for problems placed onto the USA or the World Bank when most of the blame belongs to the "victim" countries and their lousy corrupt governments. Waste of time unless you believe in this far left, anti-capitalist cult of guilt.