Man on the Run

Greetings again from the darkness. Remember that time you paid pop star Brittany Spears one million dollars to jump out of a birthday cake at your party? Or the times you paid huge appearance fees to celebrities like Leonardo DiCaprio, Jamie Foxx, and Paris Hilton to hang around your lavish parties? If not, then you're no Jho Low. And thank goodness for that. Jho Low was in cahoots with then Prime Minister Najib Razak to siphon billions from a fund designed to assist Malaysian citizens. Their fund was called 1MDB (1 Malaysian Development Berhad) and thanks to researchers and whistleblowers, this film from Cassius Michael Kim lays out a textbook case of corruption, fraud, and greed.

The FBI have called this the largest kleptocracy case to date. Kleptocracy is defined as corrupt government officials embezzling funds for personal gain. And yes, that is the where the billions of dollars come in, however, in this day and age, celebrities must be involved for the general public to much care. To satisfy these viewers, the montage of associated celebrities is impressive, and the use of these funds to finance Martin Scorsese's Oscar nominated film, THE WOLF OF WALL STREET (2014), may provide the perfect example of irony. Government corruption funding a film highlighting Wall Street corruption. To top it off, that scenario is then used as the basis for a documentary focused on the two key players behind this conspiracy of fraudulent activity.

In addition to Jho Low, Prime Minister Najib Razak, and the celebs, the story also involves Najib's wife, the FBI, Goldman Sachs executives, and numerous other folks who got caught up in the web of greed. Wherever there is dirty money being spent, you can be assured there are dirty people involved. Filmmaker Kim allows many to communicate their perspectives and observations on Jho Low, though the reality is that he remains a somewhat mysterious figure. An enigma who, while conspiring with the head of a country, managed to live the high life by spending money bilked from Malaysians.

A 22-carat diamond ended up with the Prime Minister's wife, and both of them got what they deserved in the end. However, the newest game of "Where's Waldo?" is now called, "Where's Jho Low?" He is the titular man on run, while others pay the price ... including a country that teetered on financial failure. The director does include an interview with the former Prime Minister, and we do hear from others who are familiar with the case. Unfortunately, none of the celebrities who accepted the fees agreed to appear on camera, either due to shame or fear of self-incrimination. Still, there is plenty of slime on display.

In select theaters beginning September 22, 2023.

This shows a really high profile scam which went unseen with a lot of big figures spanning across countries and industries. The movie is informative but is not in best form of entertainment or even a good documentary. Could be taken better for cinematic effects or experience but would recommend everyone to watch the movie for sake of learning about one of the biggest scandals in recent times. When the key politicians and big name firms get inloved, everything from investigations to serving justice could be a challenge but requires the justice to renew the faith in the democratic systems. Watch for information.

... is to make them interesting.

Unfortunately this one fails. It is a complete flop.

It is made even worse by the awful drowning soundtrack.

People won't care about this movie and in that way it mirrors how people don't care about what happened.

The story could have been told in 15-30 mins.

Here we just get endless padding of mournful soundtrack and people making comments which don't add to the story.

I'd suggest you just use Google to get a summary of events and save yourself the time to watch it. Certainly.don't extend the financial losses by spending money on a ticket.

The long list of people who chose not to participate - did so wisely.

To one of the biggest financial scandals of recent times. It does a good job of introducing the players, and explaining what happened. I have two observations. The first is that the audacity that some people have, you are caught red handled stealing money from the country you were elected to lead and you blame other people? Shameless. The other observation that I have is about the practice of paying celebrities to attend your parties. So basically if you have enough money you can pay pretty much whoever you want to show up, it doesn't matter what shady or immoral things you might be up to. It's a bizarre world.

An impressive look under the hood of how fraud at the highest levels of government was staged and then pulled off, "Man on the Run" is both impressive for its access and storytelling.

How two people brazenly stole hundreds of millions of dollars from their own country, flaunted it publicly, and even got so far as funding the Martin Scorsese film, "The Wolf of Wall Street", which was ABOUT CORRUPTION -was as baffling as it was fascinating.

But beyond the villains - the story also did a fantastic job of illustrating the cost. The financial burden they put on an entire country for their actions juxtaposed with the everyman's desire to just be able to live was beautiful, heartbreaking, and ultimately a very strong call to action for accountability.

Absolutely worth the watch, and a VERY relevant film no matter where you're from.