As a tense thriller with liberal dashes of cutting black humour, The Bank signals a remarkable debut for screenwriter and director Robert Connolly. As a tale of corporate corruption, rampant greed, and sweet revenge, this award winning Australian film will delight anyone that’s ever been given the rough end of the pineapple by their favourite financial institution.

As difficult as it may be to believe, considering the sheer amount of sunshine I now beam upon the world as a film critic, I was once party to a serious crime against humanity. I was a banker.

I didn’t flaunt my wares at just one bank. That’d almost be excusable. No, my friends, I sold myself repeatedly to the highest bidder and became a willing member of a tie-clad harem at three separate fiscal bazaars. With visions of deposit forms and pens attached to anti-theft chains dancing in my head, I had no shame.

While I don’t think I’ll be first up against the wall when the revolution comes, I do imagine I’ll be fifth or sixth. No, I wasn’t in on those policy meetings on the 65th floor that resulted in an automatic $2 charge for anyone approaching within ten feet of an A.T.M.

Nor did I get to partake of the platters of salad sandwiches (cut into those cutesy little triangles just the way you like them) that the bank’s movers and shakers were provided with day-in, day-out to prevent their valuable time being wasted lining up ten deep with the riffraff down at the local Subway. I was still just a ‘shaker’, and yet to add the all-important ‘mover’ prefix to my job title.

But let’s be honest now. The ruse is up. I knew what was happening behind those gleaming plate-glass doors, and I didn’t say boo. Not a peep. I turned a blind eye and mortgaged my soul for $447 a week and a very nice umbrella with the bank’s name emblazoned on it.

I’m also guilty of once swanking it up in the State Manager’s office, looking outrageously grateful for the single can of beer he was big enough to offer me from his company-funded bar fridge. I never shifted my feet in discomfort, blew a whistle, pushed the button, or rolled my eyes when the old git started in on the “one day, lad, all this could be yours” spiel. I just stood there alternating my gaze from his red-wine stained grin to his sagging pot gut, as I considered my chances of pilfering another block of those nifty coloured Post-it notes without getting caught.

I betrayed you all, good people, and for that I will surely be held to account at the bank crimes tribunal to be held in The Hague as soon as they finish up with the last of Slobodan’s boys. In the meantime, enjoy the review and keep on banking.

“This is the age of corporate feudalism, and we are the princes,” proclaims Simon O’Reilly (Anthony LaPaglia), the immaculately attired proof that the 1980s’ Gordon Gekko ‘greed is good’ culture is alive and well at the top of the nearest skyscraper. As C.E.O. of the $50 billion Centabank, he floats comfortably in a world of corporate opulence as he employs his Machiavellian talents to push the bank’s profits to ever-increasing heights of obscenity.

Despite the power he holds over thousands of grovelling employees, and the millions of customers he can crush with a single stroke of his Mont Blanc, O’Reilly’s bored and despondent. Yes, he’s wealthy beyond most people’s wildest dreams, but he longs to dazzle the world with his brilliance, stamp his mark on history, and truly live up to his reputation as a “big swinging dick”. Enter Jim Doyle (David Wenham); the man with a plan.

Jim, a genius in the field of mathematics known as fractal theory, presents his most recent formula discoveries to a gathering of Centabank execs, including O’Reilly. The young number-cruncher bumbles and stumbles trying to convince the financiers that, with sufficient funding and assistance, he can develop a software program capable of accurately predicting the outcome of such complicated processes as cloud formations. While most of the suits enjoy a chortle at Jim’s expense, O’Reilly senses the opportunity he’s been waiting for.

Jim’s immediately placed on the bank’s payroll and given access to all the resources he could ever need, including the bank’s supercomputer. Rather than a guess on next week’s weather though, his new boss, O’Reilly, wants the exact date and time of the next major stock market crash.

Foretelling the commencement of the world’s next financial disaster becomes the Holy Grail. If they crack it, Jim shines as the greatest scientist since Einstein, Centabank multiplies its value tenfold, and O’Reilly gets to “wipe the floor” with his competitors in spectacular fashion, securing the greatest victory of his career. With so much up for grabs, does it really matter if the whole process is grossly immoral?

LaPaglia (Lantana) is a class act as the ruthless banking supremo. The reach and power of the 44 year old actor is simply amazing. Always dominating the screen, he’s as equally at home silver-tonguing the media as he is exploding at an incompetent employee. Add the perfect delivery of such priceless lines as “I’m like God, but with a better suit”, and LaPaglia becomes reason alone to catch The Bank.

Balancing and opposing LaPaglia’s larger-than-life character is David Wenham (Moulin Rouge) as the quietly spoken, distracted mathematician. The plot twists of The Bank depend heavily on Wenham’s ability to keep the audience guessing as to his character’s motivations and intentions, and the Australian actor succeeds admirably. He also gets the chance to deliver a couple of very memorable lines himself; especially the film’s very last.

Along with the main cast, an enormous amount of praise must go to rookie director and screenwriter Robert Connolly. All aspects of the film, script and pace included, appear to be the work of a very fine filmmaker on his twentieth major production. With the assistance of Tristan Milani’s (Roundabout) skilful cinematography, Connolly’s film well and truly escapes the gratuitous quirkiness that all too often plagues Australian cinema, and grants The Bank some serious global appeal. The nine nominations and a win for Best Screenplay at the 2002 A.F.I. Awards were well deserved.

The Bank is a surprise packet and an easy rival to such greed-fuelled thrillers as Wall Street (1987) and Barbarians at the Gate (1993). Connolly's film opens its entertainment account with four stars, but thanks to the interest earned on LaPaglia’s dynamite deposit, the balance increases to four and a half. Check it out!

Recommended:
Yes

Viewing Format: VHS
Video Occasion: Fit for Friday Evening
Suitability For Children: Not suitable for Children of any age