Film No. 39 (2015) June 12th. 4.20 PM LUNA Paradiso, Northbridge.
"Did you know about the five million in bonuses last year? Did you get some of that? I'm startin' to thing your involved in some sort of high level financial skulduggery". (Brand talking, with tongue in cheek, with a bank security officer as he tries to get access to yet another bank executive).
The Emperor's New Clothes.
There is nothing in Russell Brand's new documentary about the world's financial inequality that most people don't know. The fact Michael Winterbottom, one of the U.K.'s premier directors, adds his name to being a major contributor to the film surprises me because there is nothing in the film that sets it above other documentaries of a similar preaching nature.
Millionaire Brand wants to know what happened to the millions that was paid to bankers after the GFC of 2008. His major gripe is that in all cases the money was taxpayer funded. It was provided to solidify the banks, to insulate them from imploding not to provide funds for "fat cats" to grab because they could. It is a fair crusade and he uses his charisma to put the case for the down trodden.
The most engaging scenes are those where Brand returns to his roots, Grays London. He walks the streets and chats easily with the locals as if walking to his local. Then he sits in the living rooms of working class locals who talk passionately about how hard it is to afford the basic essentials and an education. Brand is totally comfortable in every domestic situation and given the film was released months before the recent parliamentary elections it would seem the massage did not spread in the viral manner he and Winterbottom would have hoped.
It would seem Brand's signature scenes where those where he barged through the revolving doors of banks such as Lloyds & HSBC to name a few. Unfortunately he moved into territory he could be compared forensically with US filmmaker Mike Moore and Moore is better at the cold call. Brand was unable to embarrass any of his targets because is ambush methods were too cumbersome. Never the less Brand is likable and he has a point. It's unfortunate that the people he's fighting for are too busy working 15 hours a day to join his bandwagon. 7GUMS
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