18 Films for Times of Economic Turmoil
Rampant inflation, interest rates are rising faster than at any time in 28 years , gas prices are skyrocketing, and continued stress from Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, a protracted pandemic, supply chain issues and other factors are not helping matters. . All this means that we are in undeniably murky economic waters. Well, darker.
Economic problems are not only a topic for headlines, but also excellent material for films. Hollywood has a mixed reputation when it comes to dealing with financial instability. For decades, the Production Code imposed restrictions on filmmakers to be too critical of the country in general or of capitalism in particular. If you can’t criticize capitalism, it’s almost impossible to say anything meaningful about the economy. The tide slowly changed over time, and the financial crisis of 2008 opened the floodgates to a surge of memorable narratives and documentaries exploring the economy from a variety of intriguing perspectives. In addition to being often quite entertaining, these 18 films are all, unfortunately, evergreen, as the fundamental problems of capitalism and wealth inequality have yet to be addressed in a meaningful way.