The erstwhile “Love Gov” has a new gig: movie star! Maybe that’s a bit of a stretch, but Spitzer has been featured prominently in two recent documentaries.
First up is Client 9, which briefly covers Spitzer’s meteoric rise in New York politics, then drones on an on about his fall. As attorney general, Spitzer earned the nickname "The Sheriff of Wall Street” as he actually managed to fine, imprison, and otherwise unsettle captains of industry for their misdeeds. His work earned him both popular support and powerful enemies; the former electing him governor in 2006 with nearly seventy per cent of the vote, and the latter--the film alleges--leading to his undoing. Spitzer is an incisive, candid interview subject, but he is used sparingly here. The film focuses on the tawdriest elements of the escort scandal and most ridiculous peripheral players instead. Why? I have no idea.
First up is Client 9, which briefly covers Spitzer’s meteoric rise in New York politics, then drones on an on about his fall. As attorney general, Spitzer earned the nickname "The Sheriff of Wall Street” as he actually managed to fine, imprison, and otherwise unsettle captains of industry for their misdeeds. His work earned him both popular support and powerful enemies; the former electing him governor in 2006 with nearly seventy per cent of the vote, and the latter--the film alleges--leading to his undoing. Spitzer is an incisive, candid interview subject, but he is used sparingly here. The film focuses on the tawdriest elements of the escort scandal and most ridiculous peripheral players instead. Why? I have no idea.
Next is Inside Job, which won the Academy Award for Best Documentary in February. Here, director Charles Ferguson’s surveys the logistics of the global financial near-collapse. The film has a definite, fire-breathing perspective, as Ferguson, Spitzer, and a coterie of others squarely pin the crisis on the shoulders of the world’s financial elite and their governmental enablers.
Inside Job admirably distills the mechanics of the derivatives market, and the revolving door between big banks, the plushest business schools, and government. Ferguson is a fearless interviewer, and most of his interactions end with disdainful glares, embarrassed laughter, or I-wish-I-were-kidding ingenuousness. The result is a suspenseful, darkly comic ride through a subject that people used to think was boring.
-Megan
Inside Job admirably distills the mechanics of the derivatives market, and the revolving door between big banks, the plushest business schools, and government. Ferguson is a fearless interviewer, and most of his interactions end with disdainful glares, embarrassed laughter, or I-wish-I-were-kidding ingenuousness. The result is a suspenseful, darkly comic ride through a subject that people used to think was boring.
-Megan
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