The most important film in the 2016 Oscar race is The Big Short, which has five nominations, one of which is for best picture. The reason for its importance is the relevance of its subject matter—the greed, stupidity, and corruption that led to the collapse of the financial markets in 2008. All you need to do is read about the dizzying rise and fall of the Chinese stock market or the subprime-fueled bubble in auto loan securitizations in the United States to see that we have by no means made the money-mad world between 2001 and 2008 a thing of the past.
Even though The Big Short is successful in making a really complicated and, as a consequence, mind-numbing topic (derivatives and securities trading) understandable and even funny, it still needs some background for its insights to be better appreciated…
