Master of the Universe: Documentary 2013

Master of the Universe


PRODUCTION TEAM:

Director: Marc Bauder

PRODUCERS: Marc Bauder, Nikolus Geyrhalter, Markus Glaser, Michael Kitzberger, Wolfgang Widerhofer

CINEMATOGRAPHY: Borres Weiffenbach
EDITING: Rune Schweitzer, Hansjorg Weilbrich
SOUND: Michel Klöfkorn
MUSIC: B. Flesihmann

LANGUAGE: German
SUBTITLES: English
COUNTRY: Germany, Austria
YEAR: 2013
RUNTIME: 88 min.

WEBSITE: http://www.bauderfilm.de

Official Site: http://www.geyrhalterfilm.com/en/master_of_the_universe

Production Company: Bauderfilm, NDF Geyrhalterfilm, Hessischer Rundfunk, Sudwestrundfunk, arte

International Sales: Autlook Films

The film won the Critics’ Week Grand Prize at the Locarno festival.

This is a very powerful documentary with only one protagonist, a former investment banker Rainer Voss who talks about the financial system and his career in an empty and eerie office tower in Frankfurt's financial district. An initial reaction of many people to this type of a topic would be a disinterest. They might think such a film could not be artistic and would be simply boring. Yet this is certainly not the case of Master of the Universe. This film's way of presenting its subject, its stark cinematography, as well as the choice of sound and music, frame perfectly the subject matter and the protagonist. All of these elements reveal to the viewers a world they have never believed is as sordid as it is. All film's elements help little by little to reveal the dark side of the banker's financial stratosphere, a universe of its own, completely devoid of any social reality or responsibility, a predatory world only concerned with growing its wealth and profit. The film also reveals the protagonist's inner struggle with himself and his past, of which he does not seem at first to be aware.

I question whether Reiner Voss had agreed to be filmed and interviewed as a means to exorcise his inner "financial demons". At the beginning of the film he speaks at times quite boisterously and even with some degree of pride about his financial life and success, about his sky-rocketing career which assured him making 100,00 Euros per month. But the energetic notes eventually fade away, especially in the last third of the film. Whereas at first the spectator might have marvelled at the man's meteoric success, climbing up so quickly and accomplishing so much, towards the end of the film the same spectator will start to understand how the rarefied, sterile, and impersonal world of high finance has moulded this man into becoming an anonymous peg in the huge financial machine so he would serve and promulgate this quite absurd and unreal monster-machine into the never-ending growths and expansion. The financial world has used Voss, has chewed him up and made him do what it wanted, and than it spat him out (he was downsized), thus finally leaving him to face his own humanity and his personal troubling consciousness. In a sense, it seems that participating in the film has helped him to come back to his inner human core faster, and to come face to face with the deep remorse and sorrow he has held hidden inside him.

The last third of the film is the most fascinating. It is stated there that nobody really has a total overview of everything that is going on in a single financial institution such as a bank, and nobody therefore takes a responsibility for the financial outcomes that might shake up the whole world. The blame for some failure is often passed on to the lower echelons of the institution, such as a trader, and the management comes out of it clean. Therefore, nobody really has an overview of the financial system that is running our collective lives. Moreover, what is indeed quite horrific, some financial instruments even such as bonds are set up in such a way that they can be used improperly and even destroy the financial base of entire countries. There is an allusion to that in the film's Trailer bellow. My only regret is that the film does not explain more in detail how that destruction and robbing of the countries is made to be legal,  how is it possible to buy a bond for only a fraction of the price and demand from the impoverished government such as Greece to pay more than 3 times of what was invested, to pay back the 100% face value of the bond. Who approves such bond transactions knowing their destructive power? Are only German banks profiting in such a shady way with bonds, or some other institutions and even private individuals as well?  

The insufficient explanation of the above subject might be due to some legal concerns. Right at the beginning of the film it is stated that both parties - the film makers and Mr. Voss - had consulted their lawyers as to what can be discussed in the film and what should be avoided, as not to bring any harm to themselves and others. 

Film's Trailer




To see - à voir:  

The film will be show as part of RIDM's Docville series at the Cinéma Excentris in Montreal on February 27, 2014, at 8 pm.

http://cinemaexcentris.com/Docville-Master-of-the-Universe