Margin Call (J.C. Chandor, 2011)

The main problem with this film is how it tries to give robots a soul, transform them into human beings. As J.C. Chandor said himself of the film:

“The American independent investment bank as we knew it died. Margin Call is my attempt to share the experiences of a small group of characters that were sitting at the heart of this crisis without even realizing it. The machinery they were a part of had grown so large and complex that no one could comprehend its destructive power until it was too late.”

In this statement you can notice how he considers all these individuals just parts of the machinery and doesn't attribute any blame to them. By the end of the film this has become extremely apparent. The final scene being the burial of the dog and everything that leads up to it tries to create sympathy towards the different characters. Actually the whole minor narrative with Sam Rogers (Kevin Spacey) and his dog works as a simple way to add humanism to a character who doesn't seem to portray many other positive traits. Even John Tuld (Jeremy Irons), who is portrayed as the worst of them all since he's the one at the top, Chandor shows sympathy. In a crucial scene he makes Irons close his eyes and rest his head on his hand as he leans against a wall; expressing shame for what he is doing. The truth of the matter is that these people should receive no sympathy from any viewer. Their actions revolve solely around them and what gets them the most profit; no matter the consequences. Even if in real life these people have some sort of emotions Chandor, as a filmmaker/artist, should not create create sympathetic characters out of these villains who could be portrayed as horrific as the worst monsters in horror films.

The film does have a saving grace. The scene where Peter Sullivan (Zachary Quinto) and Seth Bregman (Penn Badgley) go to a strip-bar while waiting for a call from Will Emerson (Paul Bettany). While waiting in this bar, in a long-take and long-shot, we see both Sullivan and Bregman talking while strippers walk in front of them on the bar (we only see their scantily clothed backs). Not only is this the most aesthetically pleasing scene of the film (perfectly framed and choreographed) but their ludicrous conversation eventually leads to the discussion of how much the strippers make a night, showcasing how ignorant they really are and being one of the few progressive traits of this ultimately reactionary film.