![]() So, really well done, and they made a lot of stuff that is normally quite difficult to make appealing visually (e.g., court transcripts, phone recordings) engaging. There's a point in the film where one of the attorneys they interview talks about jaywalking, and that's what this seemed like - they were jaywalking, and the DA's office brought an insane amount of ordinance to bear on them to, presumably, ride a populist wave of anger following the 2008 meltdown. Compare that with the NINJA loans handed out by every other major financial institution, where the motivation was not to serve the community but to make as much money as possible and leave others holding the bag. It seems to me that, the crux of the difference between what Abacus did and what big banks did is that Abacus' clients were Chinese immigrants who lived and work in a cash economy, and so fudging on loan docs was not to reap a profit - as demonstrated by the fact that the loans are still performing, at least according to the post-script in the film. It’s still harsh, no doubt, but it’s nothing like the small town struggle, and the drama that aspires when you are looked down upon by those with weak reasoning.Ībacus: Small Enough to Jail will be opening for a one week engagement in Toronto starting June 2, 2017.Really well-done and engaging documentary. So at the end of the day, the large corporations always rule in the banking industry. ![]() As the film states, you’re either too big to fail, or small enough to jail. Little of them were fined or even jailed within their actions. These are the conflicts that are constantly arrest attention.īig banks got out of these types of situations that Abacus was prosecuted with. A battle less about fists, but one of reputations and principles. ![]() ![]() Employees chained together whilst being dragged to court, brought to you by a fleet of flashing news cameras. All had gone smoothly: identifications verified, documents. The upper hand had a big hold on Abacus, giving into headlines and unwarranted photos ops. JIn the heart of New York’s Chinatown, a mortgage closing at the Abacus Federal Savings Bank was just about complete. Putting any racial prejudice aside (as he claims he has), the court battle is sprouted, lasting a good five years charging around 80 accounts of criminal behavior. Taking advantage of all this? New York’s new D.A. It doesn’t necessarily take away from the impact, but more so a lack of interest to begin with. The fault – it gives little time to establish tension to the family’s morals directly, though we eventually see how they play out on the long run. Things start to go downhill quicker than you’d expect, as the film cuts right to chase into showing just where it all went wrong. With the It’s a Wonderful Life theme lain down right from the beginning, Tom and the Sung family have a mindset on doing good for the community by establishing a bank for the people in Chinatown. So what has a banking institution in the streets of Chinatown New York gotten itself into? Low ranking employees are taking fees from buyers and then falsifying their loans to work upward, ultimately getting the whole corporation into a battle. From immigration politics to fraud, there’s a lot going on, but it’s a seamlessly presented look at such a crisis that gets you deep inside, yet never too lost, in what’s going on despite the plethora of word babble and drama. The mess that the banking and financial industry has become is all the more relevant in Steve James’ latest documentary, Abacus: Small Enough to Jail.
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