Who saw a plumb line in a vision, symbolizing judgment?

Buddhist Catholic Contemplative Evangelical General Christian Hindu Jewish Latter-day Saint Muslim New Visions Progressive Christian

Beliefs

Topics

Columnists

Resource Library

Research Tools

Video

Podcasts

Thought Readers

Faith In Media Tracker

Newsletters

Ad-Free & Subscriber Log-In Subscription Support

Follow Patheos

Home
Religious Music and Entertainment

Last updated on: September 26, 2010 at 5:22 pm by Sister Rose

2010-09-26T17:22:15-06:00 Sister Rose

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

Oscar-winner Oliver Stone’s new film “Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps” is a dark, prophetic masterpiece showcasing some of the best acting this year and some of the weakest. Yet, it is profoundly disappointing because its premise forgoes morality and any consequences of the evolutionary inevitability of capitalism’s dominance over our humanity. In a way it mourns transcendence. Money may never sleep, and human nature, despite our best impulses, cannot stand up to the temptation to fill up our barn banks with treasures that will not last. Someone declares early on that the most insidious aspect of our economic system is speculation and the film proceeds to prove it.

Michael Douglas reprises his role as amoral moneyman Gordon Gekko who was arrested for insider trading and other federal offences at the end of the 1987 film “Wall Street.” But he has had some priority adjustments; time is now more important than money. He steps away from his old catch phrase “greed is good.” Now it’s actually all really about “the game”, as he tells his future son-in-law Jake Moore, played by Shia LaBeouf.

Jake is an ambitious day trader in love with Winnie, Gekko’s daughter (Carey Mulligan.) She runs a non-profit news website. She has refused to see her father since his release from prison but Jake goes behind her back and makes contact when Gordon publishes his book about greed.

All this takes place just as the 2008 Wall Street meltdown occurs. More than anything, the film frames the crash and explains the causes to us through meetings between investment houses that are “too big to fail” and representatives from the Federal Reserve. As the key figures declare or imply by their actions, “it’s unethical but not illegal.”

Louis Zabel (Frank Langella) is Jake’s mentor, and the head of Keller Zabel, a Lehman Brothers type firm. He’s an older man and can’t quite follow how profiting from debt is making money but he senses that everything is going down. The president of a rival firm, Bretton James (Josh Brolin), starts rumors about the instability of Zabel’s company while secretly investing in its failure both personally and through his own firm. Zabel commits suicide and Jake gets revenge on James by starting a rumor about his firm which then crashes and needs the biggest bail out in U.S. history.

Jake doesn’t profit from Bretton James’ failure but he has actually committed a felony, Gekko informs him. Then Jake, Gekko, and Winnie make an investment that starts the roller coaster ride down Wall Street and through their lives all over again.

But as the story gets more complicated we never get the feeling that Jake lacks a financial safety net of some kind and, Winnie has her own secrets. And Gordon is still a reptile.

(The character’s names are interesting: Gekko is a lizard, Moore is more, and Winnie wins.)

The dialogue offers us some wisdom such as “Bulls and bears make profit but pigs get slaughtered” and the song “Tiny Apocalypse“ by David Byrne plays through a sequence like the sad voice of a universal conscience .

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LZtAIoM7o0Q

Jake recalls that Einstein once said that the greatest insanity is to keep doing the same thing over and over and expect different results – but he says it more for our benefit than his own.

The most searing catch phrase in the film to me was “personalize profit but socialize loss.” Yeah, well, Wall Street certainly got that one right.

By the end, I didn’t really care about any of the characters in this film. They are still standing and walking free. The characters have gone through events but no one really changes or learns a life lesson. We never see the effect of the 2008 crash on anyone except Jake’s mother (Susan Sarandon) who gives up her failing real estate business to return to nursing – at Jake’s insistence because he is tired of bailing her out. “You used to do something that mattered!” Jake doesn’t even listen to himself. But maybe that’s the point.

Is this unsatisfying feeling the result of a bad script? I think it was intentional by writers Allan Loeb and Stephen Schiff. Loeb gave us the underappreciated 2007 film “Things We Lost in the Fire” that shows he understands what really matters.

Dramatically and emotionally, I wanted someone to get angry about what was happening to the U.S. economy, and by extension, the global impact of the 2008 crash and chaos. Jake screams at his mom and makes her tow the line, mimicking, I think, what we heard so often about the crash being the fault of consumers getting into debt, spending what they didn’t have, etc. There is not much responsibility laid at Wall Street’s door in this film. It’s like one big inside joke that never gets a laugh. The movie highlights the transparent superficiality of the system and arrogance of people who run it.

“Money Never Sleeps” shows the black ice that our prosperity as a nation travels on. It’s a warning straight out of Dickens but without a happy ending for the poor and comeuppance for the perpetrators. Sure, Bretton James gets hauled away to jail, but he is not changed; he’s just sorry he got caught.

When or how will it all end?

Oliver Stone doesn’t want us to like these characters and what they do. As the credits began to roll over close-ups of our paper currency, the eyes of dead presidents and patriots, “In God We Trust” changes to “In Greed We Trust.”

That’s pretty cynical.

Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps

Winnie

Previous Post

September 21, 2010

The Town & Machete

Next Post

October 2, 2010 The Social Network: It's all about character

Browse Our Archives

Select a Category Adolescent Adult Faith Formation Advertising Analysis Animals Pets Animation art Authors Awards best pope pictures Bible BioPic Blogs Book Reviews Books books into film Catechesis Catholic comedy Catholic Social Teaching Catholic Social Teaching (CST) Catholics in Media Christian genre Christmas movies Church and cinema Cognitive science Comedy Comics Commerntary Communication Cooking Courses Critics and Criticism Dance Daughters of St Paul news Devil movies digital games Documentary Drama Economics Ecumenical Education and Technology Education: Access and Empowerment electronic Environment Events Exorcism movies Eye on Entertainment Faith and film Faith formation Fantasy Film Essays Film Festivals Film History Film Retreat Film Reviews Film TV about Ultra Orthodox Jews Food General Grace Historical thriller History Horror How to Images INNdustry with Sister Rose Internet Interviews jesuits Kindness Lectures Lent Life Lists Literature media Media analysis Media Literacy/Media Mindfulness Music Musical National Catholic Reporter New on DVD Non-violence Nonviolence Obituaries On Faith and Media Oscars Ovis et bovis et universe pecore Parenting Pastoral Communication Pastoral communications Pauline Books & Media pax christi PCMS & Online Courses Peace Philosophy Photos Planning for Communication pope francis Popular Culture Radio RCL Benziger reality tv Reflections on life and grace religion Religious Lif Research Resources Retreat Rosary Sacraments Science and faith Social justice Social Media spirituality Spirituality and Media Sports Sr Rose Faith and Media Sr. Rose movies St. Anthony Messenger Stage & Theater stereotypes story Streaming series Survey Television the bible the bible movie The INNdustry with Sr Rose the voice Theater Themes of Catholic Social Teaching theologizing violence Theology theology of violence TV reviews and notes Uncategorized Video Video games Violence VR Games War War films Women World Film Young Adult YouTube

Select a Month September 2025 March 2025 December 2024 May 2024 April 2024 March 2024 May 2023 April 2023 March 2023 December 2022 October 2022 April 2022 March 2022 February 2022 January 2022 December 2021 November 2021 October 2021 September 2021 August 2021 May 2021 April 2021 February 2021 January 2021 December 2020 November 2020 October 2020 September 2020 May 2020 April 2020 March 2020 February 2020 December 2019 May 2019 April 2019 March 2019 January 2019 December 2018 October 2018 September 2018 August 2018 May 2018 April 2018 March 2018 February 2018 January 2018 December 2017 July 2017 June 2017 May 2017 April 2017 March 2017 February 2017 January 2017 December 2016 November 2016 October 2016 September 2016 August 2016 July 2016 June 2016 May 2016 April 2016 March 2016 February 2016 January 2016 December 2015 November 2015 October 2015 September 2015 August 2015 July 2015 June 2015 May 2015 April 2015 March 2015 February 2015 January 2015 December 2014 November 2014 October 2014 September 2014 August 2014 July 2014 June 2014 May 2014 April 2014 March 2014 February 2014 January 2014 December 2013 November 2013 October 2013 September 2013 August 2013 July 2013 June 2013 May 2013 April 2013 March 2013 February 2013 January 2013 December 2012 November 2012 October 2012 September 2012 August 2012 July 2012 June 2012 May 2012 April 2012 March 2012 February 2012 January 2012 December 2011 November 2011 October 2011 September 2011 August 2011 July 2011 June 2011 May 2011 April 2011 March 2011 February 2011 January 2011 December 2010 November 2010 October 2010 September 2010 August 2010 July 2010 June 2010 May 2010 March 2010 February 2010 January 2010 December 2009 November 2009 October 2009 September 2009 August 2009 July 2009 June 2009 May 2009 April 2009 March 2009 February 2009 January 2009 December 2008 November 2008 October 2008 September 2008 August 2008 July 2008 June 2008 May 2008 April 2008 March 2008 February 2008 January 2008 December 2007 November 2007 October 2007 September 2007 June 2007 May 2007 April 2007 March 2007 February 2007 January 2007 December 2006 November 2006 October 2006 September 2006 August 2006 July 2006 June 2006 May 2006 April 2006 March 2006 February 2006 January 2006 December 2005 November 2005 October 2005 September 2005 August 2005 July 2005 June 2005 May 2005 April 2005 March 2005 February 2005 January 2005 December 2004 November 2004 October 2004 September 2004 August 2004 July 2004 June 2004 May 2004 April 2004 March 2004 February 2004 January 2004 December 2003 November 2003 October 2003

TAKE THE

Religious Wisdom Quiz

Who saw a plumb line in a vision, symbolizing judgment?

Select your answer to see how you score.

Micah Joel Amos Obadiah