Usually our articles are about complicated things, but today we just want to talk about movies. We have prepared for you the list of films, series and documentaries about cryptocurrencies, financial markets and business. Perhaps by watching them, you will learn something new, or maybe even look at your life from a different angle. In any case, it will be interesting.
The Big Short (USA, 2015), IMDb: 7.8
The movie is about the crisis of 2007, when the mortgage bubble burst, financial companies went bankrupt, and many people lost houses and money. Except Michael Bury, who predicted the impending crisis and bet against the market.
«The Big Short» got an Oscar for Best Adapted Screenplay, so it seems like the film shows a truthful picture. You’ll like it if you want to know what derivatives and the mortgage crisis are, how exchanges work and the market is regulated, but do not want to read a book on economics. Famous actors will tell and show you everything you need to know.
Cryptopia: Bitcoin, Blockchain, and the Future of the Internet (USA, 2020), IMDb: 6.9
«Cryptopia» is a documentary about the history of the emergence of bitcoin and blockchain with discussions of their possible future. Experts talk about the potential of cryptocurrencies: those are Roger Ver, Robert Kiyosaki, Laura Shin, Vitalik Buterin.
The film explains how blockchain helps to make some areas transparent and secure, giving people back control over their own finances and personal data. It also analyzes the problems associated with the use of cryptocurrencies: lack of regulation, price instability and cybersecurity threats.
It is still unclear how crypto may affect our future, but you can draw your own conclusions. Although the audience did not rate the film as high as possible, the awards speak for themselves: «Cryptopia» won 14 ones in 7 categories.
Wall Street (USA, 1987), IMDb: 7.3
«Wall Street» by Oliver Stone tells us about a young New York broker Bud Fox, who wants to be rich. One day Bud gets an interview with a corporate giant Gordon Gekko who teaches him how to get power on Wall Street. Over time, Bud gets closer to Gekko and realizes that his idol is not who he seemed at first glance.
«Wall Street» explores the world of business and its greed, corruption, manipulations and soullessness. The film vividly depicts the culture of the 1980s, when the desire to make a quick buck was at its peak. «Greed is good» – this famous line of Gordon Gekko became a symbol of the era of capitalism.
The movie won several awards, including an Oscar and a Golden Globe for Best Lead Actor (Michael Douglas as Gordon Gekko). The financial drama has a sequel («Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps», IMDb 6.2) which was released in 2010, but the second part could never repeat the success of the original «Wall Street».
Bitcoin: The End of Money as We Know It (USA, 2015), IMDb: 6.9
The documentary explores the history of bitcoin and blockchain and analyzes their potential impact on the global economy. This is Thorsten Hoffmann's earlier work («Cryptopia»), in which he brings up the topic of the possible consequences of the cryptocurrency usage on the financial system, banks, governments and ordinary people.
The film traces the entire history of money, from the barter societies of the ancient world to the trading floors of Wall Street. The filmmakers question everything you might know about money by examining different perspectives on cryptocurrencies, while the industry experts argue about the stability of crypto and its emergence as money.
«The end of money as we know it» will be useful if you are a novice crypto investor or just interested in cryptocurrencies, technologies, economics and the future of the financial system. It will help you understand how bitcoin works and evaluate its opportunities and risks.
Boiler Room (USA, 2000), IMDb: 7
«Boiler Room» is a drama about 19-year-old entrepreneurial student Seth Davis. He wants to get rich quickly and joins a brokerage firm. Soon Seth realizes that he and his colleagues are scamming clients as shares they sell will never make a profit.
Filmmaker Ben Younger was inspired by a personal story: he himself was interviewed for a brokerage firm that turned out to be fraudulent. To dive into the subject, Ben spent several years talking to stockbrokers who aggressively sold worthless securities on the phone.
If you're interested in themes of scam and ethical issues in business, this film is for you. It shows how novice brokers are trapped by easy money and how their decisions can affect both their own and their clients' future. The drama received mixed reviews from critics but was popular among audiences and became a cult business thriller.
The Great Reset and the Rise of Bitcoin (Poland, 2022), IMDb: 7.6
This is the newest film in our list as it was released just a year ago. The documentary explores the current state of the economy and bitcoin's impact on the world. The film's producer and director, Pierre Corben, explains in detail how bitcoin works and how mining and scaling unlock its potential.
To immerse viewers into context, the author starts with the basics. He explains how central banks work, when and why economic crises happen, and how bitcoin appeared. When the basics are clear, Pierre Corbin moves on to how new technology can change the economy's established order, and why even the most stable financial systems cannot always overcome some difficulties.
With «The Great Reset» viewers can understand the current economic situation and decide what kind of financial future they want to live in. The documentary received a ton of positive reviews from bitcoiners and confirmed success at the Oniros Film Awards, where it won the «Best Documentary Feature» and «Best Indie Film».
Margin Call (USA, 2011), IMDb: 7.1
«Margin Call» is a financial thriller about the final days before the collapse of a major investment bank during the 2008 financial crisis.
The plot unfolds starting with the firing of a high-ranked employee who hands over a flash card with unfinished calculations to his colleague, Peter Salerno. The young analyst discovers that the company is on the edge of collapse because of financial products with no stable value. Together with his colleagues, Peter begins to explore the calculations and soon realizes that the bank is facing a financial disaster that will lead to a global economic crisis.
«Margin Call» shows the financial aspects of the crisis as objectively as possible, as well as its impact on the lives of company employees. Also it demonstrates how risky decisions are made and how they can affect the entire global economy, and therefore the lives of ordinary people.
Monero Means Money: Cryptocurrency 101, Live from Leipzig, 2020, IMDB: 8.2
This documentary is a recording of the speech from the Chaos Communication Congress conference in Leipzig. The lecture is about Monero cryptocurrency and its main features – anonymity and security.
Ricardo Spagni, the developer of Monero source code, talks about the creation of the cryptocurrency in 2014 and its current state: how it works and how it is used. He explains some convenient technologies of the project, such as ring signatures and confidential transactions.
The lecture will be useful for both beginners and advanced learners, if you are interested in privacy and protection of personal information on the web.
Open Source Money (USA, 2020), IMDb: 8.6
«Open Source Money» is a documentary series exploring the world of cryptocurrencies and blockchain. The authors focus on different aspects of using crypto: the mechanisms of work, technologies, investments and problems related to its implementation into the world economy.
The plot is based on the story of Joe Roots, the founder of Dragonchain, an American technology company that has fueled public interest in cryptocurrency around the world. In the series, you can see problems Joe and other American crypto-entrepreneurs face: mostly those are the resistance with the government and the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.
In each of the five episodes, the authors of the documentary talk about the main participants of the cryptocurrency revolution: Patrick Byrne, Brock Pierce, Joe Roots, and the Disney and Facebook companies.
Glengarry Glen Ross (USA, 1992), IMDb: 7.7
«Glengarry Glen Ross» is an American classic. The drama is based on a play by David Mamet, so the movie resembles a play. The main action is somewhere behind the scenes, and the major part of the film the characters just talk to each other. But that is their words, intonations and fights that make the narrative dynamic.
In the story, four land sales agents work for a Chicago branch of a large company. The branch is not doing well, so they get business coach Blake to raise the morale of the employees. Blake arranges a contest, promising that the best agent will get a Cadillac, the second after him will have a set of knives, and the two worst employees will be fired.
The rivals get to work and use anything to avoid losing their position. The film shows the tough and depressing world of business, where people become victims of competition. The «striving for the American dream» leads to a loss of moral values and human relationships.
«Glengarry Glen Ross» is known for its cast: Alec Baldwin, Al Pacino, Jack Lemmon, Kevin Spacey and Ed Harris. After the movie release Al Pacino was nominated for an Academy Award and a Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actor.
The Wolf of Wall Street (USA, 2013), IMDb: 8.2
This is exactly that comedy by Martin Scorsese with Leonardo DiCaprio always included in all the ratings, from «100 best movies of the XXI century» to «Top 10 movies about success». It’s not surprising the film got into our list.
The plot is based on a real story of a New York 26-years old broker who made $50 million on stocks and was later convicted of fraud. The film is set in the 1980s, when the charismatic Jordan Belfort and his friend Donnie (Jonah Hill) start Stratton Oakmont, a company that sells illiquid stocks to small investors. The business is booming, Belfort is in Forbes, he throws crazy parties and spends millions of earned dollars. That is like that until the FBI and the SEC start taking an interest in him.
Probably you've seen «The Wolf», but it's one of those movies that can be watched again and again not just for the pretty picture and good cast, but to remind yourself to always be on guard, especially in the world of finance. In 2023, after all that the crypto and stock markets have experienced, this story seems especially deductive. Always do your own research, use any of the available sources of information, study, analyze and make an investment decision only if you are 100% sure about the project. And here is our recent article about DYOR.
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This material is not an investment recommendation. The financial and other transactions mentioned in the article are not a guide to action. Itez is not responsible for possible risks. The user should independently conduct an analysis on the basis of which it will be possible to draw conclusions and make decisions about conducting any operations with cryptocurrency and / or tokens.
