We were all affected by the events of the weekend of September 15, 2008 even if you were not aware of that dates significance. That was the weekend which spelled the beginning of the long since unfolding end of Lehman Brothers. Many people aren’t even really sure what Lehman Brothers did and the BBC dramatic film from 2009, “The Last Days of Lehman Brothers,” probably leaves the average Joe with no greater understanding of this. still, from a historical/cultural standpoint the end of Lehman Brothers was a pretty big deal. Some from middle America may not feel bad for high-paid executives losing their jobs, but Lehman when they went belly up, employed more than 26,000 people; secretaries, administrative, security, sales, and more. even more importantly for middle-America, the bankruptcy of Lehman Brothers spelled out the writing which had been haze in the distance for some time; American business needed a change; huge, inefficient companies had to make way for more streamlined, more nimble replacements. This is a thing which has happened before, this is a thing which will be played out again one day.
While the Last Days of Lehman Brothers is a “fictive historical” retelling of real life, it did not happen in real time. Much of the words behind private doors are not real and there is a fictional narrator “Zach,” who helps to tell the story at the films outset.
The film The Last Days of Lehman Brothers tries its hardest but this film assumes many things. It assumes that people really already sort of know who Hank Paulson is and who Dick Fuld is. While many may recognize the names, not everyone knows their place neither in real life nor in the actual episode of the fall of Lehman Brothers in reality. While many may argue that only people who know this information already would even watch this show, I’d counter that in order to bring everyone in under the tent you need to be able to bring everyone in under the tent!
The Last Days of Lehman Brothers also was full of a lot of…stuff. People were aware of this event going on and many people found out information after the fact but still this film tried very hard to pack a huge amount of information into 47 minutes.
James Cromwell as Hank Paulson was one of the only faces which most Americans would recognize. He was okay; a little flat and his unusually spooky countenance was that much more personified in his deadpan delivery of some lines. Corey Johnson played the role of disgraced Lehman zealot Dick Fuld. Fuld was the aggressive and charismatic leader of Lehman Brothers and his fall from grace was well played in the hyped up scenes where Johnson was featured.
The Last Days of Lehman Brothers was apparently thrown together rather quickly; so as to chronicle life in real time. This haphazard cobbling of facts and information though was evident in the rushed portions of the script. All in all I’d say that The Fall of Lehman Brothers was a spectacular event in real time but in this BBC epilogue, the graceful nosedive this 150 year old giant took was rehashed in clipped fragments which always seemed aware of the ending despite it’s not having happened.
