Film Analysis Of The Untouchables

Collin Ulness

Film Analysis #1

The Untouchables

In 2008 the worst financial crisis since the great depression hit and left many people wondering who should be responsible. Many Americans supported the prosecution of Wall Street. To this day there have still not been any arrests of any executive on Wall Street for the financial collapse. Many analysts point out that greed of executives was one of the many factors in the crisis. I will talk about subprime loans, ill-intent, punishments, and white collar crime.

I feel like The Untouchables did a great job of summarizing the events that took place before, during, and after the financial collapse of 2008. The parts that I did like about this video is all of the interviews. They interviewed everyone including people from the bottom of the banks who were trying to get higher up officials to listen to them. One statement that I remember the most is from senator Ted Kaufman who said that the crisis not only almost destroyed the financial system in the United States but it almost destroyed the global financial system. This made me realize how large of a situation took place. In 2008 when all of this was happening, I was only 15 so I did not have any insight as to what was going on. I remember always hearing about it on the news but I never fully grasped it so this was a good summary of what happened. I think one of the thing that the video should have touched on a little more is how the banks are doing business differently today and if the courts are still going after the banks and the people responsible.

Countrywide’s business tactic was “Fund ‘em”. If a person does not have a job, or any assets the answer was still “Fund ‘em”. This is a practice called subprime lending which allows loan...

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...ank under an extremely watchful eye.

The film was appropriately named The Untouchables because the film really pointed out that it is possible for something to be so large it is untouchable for it to be prosecuted. I feel that most white collar crime does get punished there are some cases where it does not because it is hard to prove. While I can't think of any specific examples of white collar crime going unpunished I do hear about it in the news. The power structure in America definitely insulates the rich and powerful.

In conclusion, people have still not been held accountable for one of the largest financial collapses of all time. I think that there should be a limit on who gets qualified for any loan in order to avoid this situation again. I think that everyone who was responsible should be held accountable for what happened even if it means banks going under.