By Kate Rodger
Oscar-nominated documentary Inside Job has just hit New Zealand cinemas. It's the second nod from the academy for its director Charles Ferguson.
His earlier film No End In Sight took aim at the Bush administration over the invasion of Iraq. Now Obama is the target in his investigation into the recent economic crisis.
Ferguson approached Sony Classics right after the crash of Lehman Brothers with his idea for a documentary on Wall Street. Inside Job is the result.
It's hard to imagine this quietly-spoken man going head-to-head with the Bush administration, Obama and Wall Street, but he has, and he's pulled no punches.
Matt Damon narrates events, and Ferguson's interview subjects are key insiders - perpetrators in some cases - financiers, politicians, academics.
And delivering this complex economic unravelling to a mainstream audience wasn't easy.
"One of the most difficult things in the world is to take something complicated and make it understandable and clear," says Ferguson. "We put a lot of thought and effort into that."
For New Zealand audiences, what can we do, and how important is this film for us as an economic nation and a people?
"I think there are two things people in New Zealand can do," says Ferguson. "Make sure their own government and regulators behave better than the Americans have done, the second, is governments all over the world should be putting pressure on the American governmentt to change this. And some of them are."
New Zealand audiences now have their chance to respond to Ferguson's call to arms. Inside Job has just hit the big screen here.
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