I am a huge fan of movies and finance, and I immediately remember all of the great movies that I have seen whenever there is a finance movie trailer released.

I know many of our readers are preparing for midterms; so if you want to take a break from studying, or just simply gave up on studying (please don’t), take a look at this list of great finance and business related movies:

(The list is in no specific order)

1: Too Big to Fail

The movie is based on Andrew Ross Sorkin’s book named Too Big to Fail: The inside Story of How Wall Street and Washington Fought to Save the Financial System—and themselves. The movie received several nominations (including 11 nominations at the Emmy Awards).

This film presents the 2008 financial crisis, the bankruptcy of the Lehman Brothers and of the banks’ bailouts. This film is able to provide great insight of how the closed-door meetings might have happened during the whole crisis. This drama covers the subject of moral hazard. This film is targeted more towards the hard-core finance fans as you have to follow the dialogue very closely in order to fully understand what is going on.

2: Margin Call

I have to disclose that my views of this movie are a bit biased because I am huge fan of House of cards, and of Kevin Spacey (but everyone is a fan of Mr. Spacey right?) This is the story of the 24 hours’ life of a financial institution that is going through very tough times. The bank has large and leveraged positions (speculated positions) that are so volatile that the losses could be greater than its whole value in the market. Unlike many finance movies, the movie doesn’t solely focus on hazards of speculation but also on how ruthless institutions can be with their own employees. This movie also counts with a great cast that includes: Kevin Spacey, Paul Bettany, Demi Moore and Zachary Quinto.

3: Wall Street

Yes, blue horseshoe loves Anacott steel – Yes, it might sound like a cliché that this movie appears in the list but it is undeniably a good movie. This film focuses on making a lot of money quickly through insider trading. Another reason to watch this movie is because Michael Douglas’ character Gordon Gekko and his famous line, “Greed, for lack of a better word, is good. Greed is right. Greed works. Greed clarifies, cuts through, and captures the essence of the evolutionary spirit”

4: Boiler room

If there was a phrase to describe this film it would be “pump and dump.” This film basically depicts the shady side of the business, where a group of lying stock brokers sell worthless stocks through the phone. Although greed is seen throughout the whole movie, there is still some space for character development – the film is also about the story of a son that is trying to live up to his father’s demanding standards by joining this group of dishonest salesmen.

5: Inside Job

This is the only documentary in my list but it is a very good documentary. It is narrated by Matt Damon and talks about how regulation could have prevented the 2008 Crisis. The documentary is full of interviews with politicians, journalists and academics.  The documentary analyses the financial situation of several countries prior to the crisis, such as China, France, England and Iceland. This is a great documentary that will help you better understand my first movie recommendation, Too big to fail.

Writer: Eduardo Wu

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