Rogue Trader (1999)
Director: James Dearden
Writers: James Dearden
Starring: Ewan McGregor and Anna Friel
Plot: Rogue Trader tells the true story of Nick Leeson, an employee of Barings Bank who after a successful spell working for the firm’s office in Indonesia is sent to Singapore as General Manager of the Trading Floor on the SIMEX exchange. The movie follows Leeson’s rise as he soon becomes one of Barings’ key traders.
Floored
Director: James Allen Smith
Writer: Andrew McAllister, James Allen Smith
Starring: Bobby Ansani, Jeff Ansani, Ron Beebe
Plot: Floored is a 2009 documentary film about the people and business of the Chicago trading floors. The film focuses specifically on several Chicago floor traders who have been impacted by the electronic trading revolution and whose jobs have been threatened by the use of computers in the trading world.
The Merchant of Venice (2004)
Director: Michael Radford
Writer: Michael Radford
Starring: Al Pacino, Jeremy Irons, joseph Fiennes, Lynn Collins
Plot: In 16th century Venice, when a merchant must default on a large loan from an abused Jewish moneylender for a friend with romantic ambitions, the bitterly vengeful creditor demands a gruesome payment instead.
Trillion Dollar Bet: The Demise Of Long-Term Capital Management (2000)
Director: Malcolm Clark
Writer: Malcolm Clark
Starring: Robert C. Merton, Merton Miller, Paul Samuelson
Plot: For over a hundred years economists had dreamed of a way of reducing risk in the stock market. Two Nobel Prize winning economists found a formula which it seemed did exactly that- only for a roiling crisis to sweep through the markets, leaving their new hedge fund almost broke.
Trading Places (1983)
Director: John Landis
Writer: Timothy Harris, Herschel Weingrod
Starring: Dan Aykroyd, Eddie Murphy
Plot: Upper-crust executive Louis Winthorpe III (Dan Aykroyd) and down-and-out hustler Billy Ray Valentine (Eddie Murphy) are the subjects of a bet by successful brokers Mortimer (Don Ameche) and Randolph Duke (Ralph Bellamy). An employee of the Dukes, Winthorpe is framed by the brothers for a crime he didn’t commit, with the siblings then installing the street-smart Valentine in his position. When Winthorpe and Valentine uncover the scheme, they set out to turn the tables on the Dukes.
Margin Call (2011)
Director: J.C. Chandor
Writer: J.C. Chandor
Starring: Kevin Spacey, Paul Bettany, Jeremy Irons
Plot: A 2011 American independent drama film written and directed by J. C. Chandor. The story takes place over a 36-hour period at a large Wall Street investment bank and highlights the initial stages of the financial crisis of 2007–08. In focus are the actions taken by a group of employees during the subsequent financial collapse.
Inside Job (2010)
Director: Charles Ferguson
Writer: Adam Bolt, Chad Beck, Charles Ferguson
Starring: Glen Hubbard, Frederic Mishkin, Matt Damon, Barack Obama
Plot: The global financial meltdown that took place in Fall 2008 caused millions of job and home losses and plunged the United States into a deep economic recession. Matt Damon narrates a documentary that provides a detailed examination of the elements that led to the collapse and identifies keys financial and political players. Director Charles Ferguson conducts a wide range of interviews and traces the story from the United States to China to Iceland to several other global financial hot spots.
Enron: The Smartest Guys In The Room (2005)
Director: Alex Gibney
Writer: Alex Gibney
Starring: Jeffrey Skilling, Kenneth Lay
Plot: This documentary explores the fall of the Enron Corporation, arguably the most shocking example of modern corporate corruption. The company is linked with several illegal schemes, including instigating the California energy crisis as a way to drive up utility prices at the expense of the average American. In a hyper-competitive environment, Enron traders resort to all kinds of underhanded dealings in order to make money at any cost and keep their high-paying jobs.
The Last Days Of Lehman Brothers (2009)
Director: Michael Samuels
Writer: Craig Warner
Starring: James Cronwell, Ben Daniels, Corey Johnson, Michael Landes, James Bolam
Plot: The Last Days of Lehman Brothers summarizes the events that occurred over the weekend preceding Monday, 15 September 2008, when Lehman declared bankruptcy. Some of the story is narrated by the fictional character “Zach”, a Lehman employee often taking orders directly from Dick Fuld. Zach often breaks the Fourth wall, talking directly to the viewer.
Boiler Room (2000)
Director: Ben Younger
Writer: Ben Younger
Starring: Giovanni Ribisi, Vin Diesel, Ben Affleck
Plot: The film is based on interviews the writer conducted with numerous brokers over a two-year period, and is inspired by the firm Stratton Oakmont and the life of Jordan Belfort, whose autobiography was later adapted into Martin Scorsese’s 2013 film The Wolf of Wall Street, starring Leonardo DiCaprio as Belfort.
Wolf Of Wall Street (2013)
Director: Martin Scorsese
Writer: Terence Winter
Starring: Leonardo DiCaprio, Jonah Hill, Margot Robbie
Plot: The screenplay by Terence Winter is adapted from the eponymous memoir by Jordan Belfort and recounts from Belfort’s perspective his career as a stockbroker in New York City and how his firm Stratton Oakmont engaged in rampant corruption and fraud on Wall Street that ultimately led to his downfall.
Overdose (2010)
Director: Martin Borgs
Writer: Johan Norberg, Martin Borgs
Starring: Johan Norberg
Plot: ‘Overdose’ is the story of the greatest economic crisis of our age – the one that awaits us. The documentary traces the origins of the financial crisis and explores the eerie similarities with today’s situation, where states like Greece, Iceland and even the U.S. seems to be in danger of collapsing. Among those interviewed are experts who were mocked when they predicted the current crisis. Other interviewees include Nobel laureate Vernon Smith and former US Comptroller General David Walker (I.O.U.S.A). The film is shot in the U.S., Sweden and Germany and makes extensive use of music, archive footage and graphics.
Wall Street : Money Never Sleeps (2010)
Director: Oliver Stone
Writers: Allan Loeb, Stephen Schiff,
Stars: Shia LaBeouf, Michael Douglas, Carey Mulligan
Plot: Following a long prison term, master manipulator Gordon Gekko (Michael Douglas) keeps his true motives hidden when he forges an alliance with his daughter’s fiance (Shia LaBeouf). Two decades after being imprisoned for insider trading, Gordon Gekko (Michael Douglas) is set free, profiting on his infamy as an author and public speaker. At a time when the market is crumbling and those working on Wall Street are scrambling to catch a break, Gekko is approached by Jacob (Shia LaBeouf), a young trader looking for Gekko’s guidance.
