Movie Summary And Analysis: Rogue Trader (Essay Sample)

Movie Summary and Review
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Movie Summary and Review
1 Rogue Trader
Rogue Trader is a movie based on a true story about Nick Leeson who was employed at Barings Bank. He did very well in his previous jobs which were all in Indonesia. These performances opened doors for him, when he moved to Singapore as the General Manager of the Trading Floor on the SIMEX exchange. It didn't take him long to become one of Barings' significant traders (Billson 2015). The movie gains traction with Nick making a grave error through what is referred to as the 88888 error account; he, in turn, is forced to hide the massive losses as he gambles away the money belonging to the company with little amounts. He risks the cash in a big way so much so that he losses as much as £800 million. It is at this point that Nick and Lisa (his wife), choose to run away from Singapore to Malaysia (Billson 2015)
As explained by Rodrigues (2016), at the start, Nick does not know the extent of his mess until he gets information through the media of the company he was working for. Barings was in danger and had gone bankrupt. Following this shocking news, they now decide to run away and go back to London but on their way; Nick is captured in Germany, Frankfurt. Due to the sins which he had committed back in Singapore is extradited back to the country where he gets severe punishment as he was sentenced to almost seven years in their jails and as result, he discovered that he had colon cancer. The disease was the main reason that he did not complete the jail sentence which was handed to him as a result of his mismanagement of funds.
A review by Billson (2015) shows the movie and deals with a story about a person who mismanaged funds because of a problem of gambling. There are many financial lessons which emerge from the movie, stated earlier developed from a true story. The first which is that it doesn’t matter how someone performed in their previous jobs, Nick did very well in his past jobs which were all in Indonesia, but when he was given the job in Singapore, the previous experience would never have prepared the employers of what was about to happen. When he was employed he painted a picture of a 28-year-old who had the golden touch in matters finance, this is because from his previous jobs he had earned £200,000 a year. Some people in he worked with said he was ‘brilliant’ trader. Others said he was a ‘high-flyer who was not afraid of any trades (Billson 2015)
Nick brought down the Singapore-based company due to his habit of gambling. He toppled 233-year-old Barings, and the lessons which arise from the debacle showed that trading firms would be better off if they had policies which mitigated risk in their portfolios. It is also important that before taking any actions which may have a huge impact of the financials of a company, for example, Lesson’s mistakes would never have happened if trading plan would have well thought through. The main mistake that he did was doubling down and one thing which a manager should do is to avoid this kind of situation because it is bound to cost the company a lot of money. It is common practice and an unwritten rule for companies to cut Leeson was not doing any of this (Rodrigues 2016)
The Rogue Trader is a movie which is therefore important lesson for managers and owners who had interest the banking industry need to ensure that there are internal sound controls and that everyone within the company is accountable. It is also a problem if problems appear in the operations of a company that whoever is involved doesn’t try to hide them. From the storyline in the movie, Leeson was able to conceal his behavior which happened over an extended period successfully. It is ironical that at some point, in his admission he said that the management of the financial institution erred in letting him to continue as the chief trader and for this reason allowed him time to deceive them time without number. In the process, he was allowed to operate from both sides of the balance sheet which developed to a bad habit which could be defined as an addiction (Rodrigues 2016)
2 Enron: The Smartest Guys
Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room is a documentary which came out in the year 2015 based on a book by Bethany McLean and Peter Elkind which was done in the year. It was basically an investigation into the biggest scandals in business to ever emerge from the USA. Along the authors, McLean and Elkind the Alex Gibney also played a major role in the production of the movie. The movie digs more rooted in the investigations in the scandal in 2001 that was the disintegration of the Enron Corporation. This collapse brought about court cases for the top management for several companies. The documentary goes ahead to show the role these executives played in the scandal that was the California electricity crisis. It is interesting because it goes ahead to features interviews the journalists who came up with it, McLean and Elkind (Gibney et al., 2013)
It also features some of the directors, employees and even some of the leaders who were at the helm of the leadership at the time when the scandal happened like the Governor of California Gray Davis. The consequences of Enron's bankruptcy, employees, shareholders and investors loose pensions, life savings and over $11 billion in shareholder value respectively. The film climaxes when the people watching the movie hear Enron traders’ own voices they appear to be discussing the stealing of the hundreds of millions from the scandal which emerged from the California energy crisis. It is from these conversations, that the audience understands the consequences which arise from the scandal and which may be able to understand the effects which this might have on the impact of our country’s economy (Bradshaw 2006).
As seen by Gibney et al. (2013), the Enron debacle brings out a story where there was some form of crookedness which emerged from the dealings at the onset were viewed as being lawful in every aspect. The top management of the organization was occupied by two men who included the chairman of the company and the chief executive officer. This were Kenneth Lay and Jeffrey Skilling, were surprisingly arrogant, hostile and aggressive men who had this belief that they were the "smartest guys in the room": they believed that it is this attributes which made the company which they worked for the most innovative corporation in the USA. The concept which comes out from this is that there should never be a person who feels superior or the "smartest guys in the room" because this has a danger of moving into something dangerous. (Gibney et al., 2013)
There is also the issue of financial fraud which must be dealt with in every company. The reason for this is to avoid situations where like in the Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room documentary there were situations where people who saw themselves as the smartest in the room initiated situations which led to the loss of money. More concentration should also be directed at trying to avoid the manipulations which make come when people try to raid pension funds. As a people we also need to avoid the situations where we put the trust in people just because they are rich. It is dangerous to understand the unwavering attraction so we usually have on the plutocrats who in many occasions usually appear to be running the economy. If Lay and Skilling had invested in the media, they would definitely have had an opportunity to survive the storm that arose (Gibney et al 2013).
The forensic investigation which was done by McLean and her colleague for the book was intriguing just to say the least. She dug so deep in trying to understand the company’s problems which she did. She did not just look at face value and get satisfied with it but went further to try and understand, without looking at the success of the company. The journalists dug deeper in trying to look at the wealth and the good life which the executive officers were leaving. They dug deep to see the numbers and avoided any type of spin which was being peddled around at the time. The arrogance of the two gentlemen at the helm of the company might also have played part in the investigations that these journalists sought to do. (Bradshaw 2006).
3 Big Short Film Analysis
The Big Short is a movie written by Adam McKay and directed by Adam McKay and Charles Randolph. The movie is based on 2010 book The Big Short: Inside the Doomsday Machine by Michael Lewis. The film tells the true story of the 2007-2008 financial crisis that led to the collapse of financial institutions in the US. The screenwriter, McKay, writes the movie in a comical way which makes it easier for the audience to understand what caused the crisis. The movie features among other actors, Brad Pitt, Christian Bale, Melissa Leo and a cameo of Selena Gomez and Richard Thaler. The plot of the movie helps in depicting the situations that led to the collapse of financial institutions.
The Big Short focuses on three stories revolving around the subprime housing markets and how greed to make more profits led to the collapse of financial institutions which in turn l...