You’ve watched The Big Short and Margin Call a thousand times — in their entirety and via those clips that always seem to be in your feed. You can recite The Wolf of Wall Street back to front (regrettably); and have finally digested the latest season of HBO’s Industry.
So what now?
If it’s a dose of Michael Lewis-esque intellectualism you’re after without committing to a book (though definitely reconsider reading instead), perhaps it’s time to dive headfirst into the compelling backlog of finance documentaries out there.
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The Best Finance Documentaries Right Now
Perhaps the most comprehensive feature-length examination of the Global Financial Crisis, broken down in five chapters with the critical acclaim to show for it: Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature, special selection for the 2010 Cannes Film Festival, and a near-flawless Rotten Tomatoes score.
The documentary taps a certifiable who’s who of notable finance figures; ranging from economics professors and editors from the likes of The Financial Times, Fortune Magazine; to Soros Fund Management’s George Soros, former VP of Lehman Brothers Lawrence McDonald, and the IMF’s Chief Economist Raghuram Rajan.
Matt Damon serves as the narrator.
Enron’s collapse in 2001 has been an endless source of fascination. Beyond the story of history’s luckiest horndog executive Lou Pai, who saved both his multimillion-dollar fortune and avoided jail by leaving his wife for a stripper.
The documentary, directed by the same filmmaker behind Going Clear: Scientology and the Prison of Belief and The Inventor: Out for Blood in Silicon Valley won Best Documentary Feature at the 21st Independent Spirit Awards and Best Documentary Screenplay at the 58th Writers Guild of America Awards. It was also nominated for Best Documentary Feature at the 78th Academy Awards, but would lose to March of the Penguins.
Based on the best-selling 2003 book of the same name by Fortune reporters Bethany McLean and Peter Elkind.
Given the ongoing inflation crisis, you will have probably heard a lot more about the US Federal Reserve lately. This doco, which had the snappy tagline of “The first film about the next crisis” over a decade ago, gives you a rundown of what it is and why it’s so important.
Liev Schreiber serves as narrator.
A classic, yet lesser known tale of a man who achieves the wealth and success of his wildest dreams at the cost of everyone he deceived. Spoilers: like every house of cards/web of lies, it was never fated to last.
Watch the entire film for free below.
The Ascent of Money is somewhat of an outlier within this list, given it doesn’t focus on a specific event, occurrence, or system. Instead, it’s an extensive chronology of currency, credit, and banking through a macro lens.
Co-produced by the UK’s Channel 4 and US network PBS, it won the 2009 International Emmy Award for Best Documentary. Based on the 2008 book of the same name by Harvard professor Niall Ferguson.
Watch it free below.
We always hear about the massive sway China as a modern empire possesses in the 21st century. The China Hustle not only illustrates the point, but also provides a harrowing breakdown of how it can all go wrong when you discover the “systematic and formulaic decades-long securities fraud” by Chinese companies listed on the US stock market.
This one is certainly eye-opening.
Alex Gibney, who directed the aforementioned Enron doco, served as producer on this one alongside billionaire entrepreneur Mark Cuban.
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Supplementary viewing post-Big Short and Inside Job. If you’re keen to explore the same historical event from a slightly different angle, that is. But ultimately, it’s the same info.
For most of us, central banks are nothing more than enigmatic concepts that exist in the background of everyday life. Princes of Yen, adapted from the book of the same name by Professor Richard Werner, details how they can pull invisible strings to transform entire countries.
Watch it free below.
HBO’s masterfully crafted examination of value investing’s poster boy and the greatest investor of our time.
Warren Buffett is interviewed on his upbringing; early facility with mathematics and interest in investing; as well as his time studying value investing at the feet of the master, Benjamin Graham, at Columbia Business School.
Friends, family, and colleagues such as his wife Susan Buffett and longtime business partner Charlie Munger — both of whom have since passed away — also appear to provide their two cents.
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Honourable Mentions
File these ones under “Good, Not Great” or alternatively, “Only If You Can Really Be Bothered.”
- The Flaw (2010)
- The Panama Papers (2018)
- Banking on Bitcoin (2016)
- Dirty Money (2020)
- Master of the Universe (2013)
- Money Electric (2024)
- The Price We Pay (2014)
- Madoff: The Monster of Wall Street (2023)
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