Themes: Office Politics, Ladder to the Top, Fighting the System
Main Cast: David Wenham, Anthony LaPaglia, Mitchell Butel
Release Year: 2001
Country: AU/IT
Run Time: 103 minutes
Plot
A young man fascinated with the workings of the world of banking forms an alliance with an unscrupulous corporate predator in this drama. Jim Doyle (David Wenham) developed an interest in finance while he was a young boy growing up in a small Australian town, and as an adult he and his partners have developed BTSE (Bank Training Simulation Experiment), a sophisticated computer program that can anticipate the ups and downs of the world's money markets. Jim's program attracts the interest of Simon O'Riley (Anthony LaPaglia), the head of a major Aussie financial services corporation, Centabank; O'Riley is looking to cut costs and increase profits, and he's convinced BTSE can help him do just that. However, O'Riley has other, more aggressive ways of boosting his bottom line; Centabank has been shutting down small-town branch offices that have been faithfully serving customers for decades, and has developed a new enthusiasm for foreclosing on loans from smaller customers having trouble making ends meet. Two such customers are Wayne and Diane Davis (Steve Rodgers and Mandy McElhinney), who obtained a loan to start their own business building houseboats; when the local economy went into a nosedive, the Davises found themselves under the thumb of Centabank, and the bank's hounding of the couple led to an unfortunate accident that took the life of their young son. Determined to make Centabank pay for their son's death, Wayne takes on the corporation with the help of Stephen (Mitchell Buell), an activist lawyer. Jim, meanwhile, becomes romantically involved with Michelle (Sibylla Budd), a Centabank employee, and through her gets a clearer idea of just what O'Riley is trying to do. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
Review
Movies about high finance always run the risk of boring the audience with more arcane detail than any lay person can absorb in two hours of screen time. The Bank dispenses with trying to educate, favoring atmosphere and psychology over numbers and theories. Artfully animated parabolas under the opening credits suggest that the theories of Jim Doyle (David Wenham) about predicting the money market will be one part Leonardo DaVinci (Doyle likes to draw and doodle on tablecloths) and one part John Nash. As Simon O'Reily, Doyle's employer and sometime nemesis, Anthony LaPaglia gets to recycle a lot of Michael Douglas' Oscar-winning moves and locutions from Wall Street. He's the ultimate corporate shark, puffing on a stogie, bragging about having his foot on the back of Jim's neck as a great motivational tool, and trusting no one. Wenham can't keep up with LaPaglia and doesn't try; anyway, the film seems to be less about rooting for Jim than rooting against Simon. The twin subplots of a couple frustrated by the bank's indifference to their financial and personal losses and a comely fellow employee romancing Jim are good red herrings, though the film's final twist isn't too hard to predict. ~ Tom Wiener, All Movie Guide
Kazuhiro Muroyama - Toshio; Stephen Leeder - Billy; Bruce Myles - Ben; Vince Gil - Sheriff; Sibylla Budd
Credit
Jane Norris - Casting, Domenico Procacci - Co-producer, Annie Marshall - Costume Designer, Robert Connolly - Director, Nicholas Meyers - Editor, Alan John - Composer (Music Score), Luigi Pittorino - Production Designer, Tristan Milani - Cinematographer, John Maynard - Producer, Sam Petty - Sound/Sound Designer, Robert Connolly - Screenwriter
