The Wizard of Lies
HBO Films
The 2008 financial collapse didn’t touch me the way it did a lot of Americans. I was in high school, and I’m sure there were issues that my parents’ hid from us, but my life did not change. It wasn’t until a couple of years ago, when I saw The Big Short that the realities of the fateful fall of the banks, and what happened to my fellow Americans, was fully illuminated for me. Around that same time Bernie Madoff was arrested, another casualty of the banks blowing themselves sky high, and his fate got lost in the news like the mass shootings of today. What Madoff did, was unlike any fraud committed in Wall Street history. He wasn’t some hack who was operating a small grift on hopelessly gullible patsies. Oh no. Bernie Madoff, the former chair of the NASDAQ stock market, literally defrauded 4,800 people out of $64.8 billion dollars, and he did it by operating a simple Ponzi scheme. The level of public trust that he was operating under cannot be expressed. It would be like if the President colluded with Russia. That big.
This HBO film is based on the book of the same name by journalist Diane B. Henriques, who makes an appearance as herself, interviewing Madoff from his prison cell. Robert De Niro, a consummate professional, truly imbued Madoff, showcasing the self-aggrandizing behavior, the denial he had in his own culpability, and his hand in his family’s demise. De Niro and Michelle Pfeiffer greatly deserved their Emmy nominations in the acting categories, for their roles as the Madoffs. The complex nature of these characters, and the unbelievable truth to what happened all those years ago not only created a great story but a great platform for some superb acting.
Madoff’s scheme was of such huge proportions that he literally made millionaires into paupers in one day. People lost their entire life’s savings. In the waning days of the scheme, before he was caught, he was goading people into investing money that he tried to use to cover his losses, shifting money around left and right to keep up appearances. He and his shady associate Frank DiPascali (Azaria) were the only ones who were operating under this knowledge. Everyone was surprised, even his staff and family. Since this scandal Madoff has been convicted, and sentenced to 150 years of imprisonment, and his assets liquidated to pay his victims. Because of this his wife lives in poverty, and his sons suffered more than anyone could believe. Though this film is well made, and can stand on its own without incentive, it should also be seen as a teaching tool. I would be completely unsurprised if this film becomes standard viewing for students in history, economics, finance, and business classes.
