Watching Zombie Bankers, I was ready to laugh and I did. I was ready to see some strange people and I did. The romp through the countryside was good, light-hearted fun, but at some point I was grabbed by a growing concern that the distinction between the Good Guys and the Zombies was becoming blurred. I was scared and with good reason. I was expecting a "them and us" situation, in which Carson, Crusher, and crew, carrying the banner for us Good Guys would vilify and destroy the Evil Banking Establishment.Suddenly I got the uncomfortable feeling that the film asks us to do more than that. At some point the Zombies are also us, caught in the quicksand of overspending and then struggling to get out, all the while sinking deeper and deeper. We see in the film that it is not just the banks but the malls that are filled with people who have had the life sucked out of them, not just by a raw deal, but by confusing wealth with self- worth. The seduction of the good life has expanded the Zombie ranks beyond those who control interest rates and mortgages.
The fight then, not just with the enemy but with ourselves, becomes an effort to overcome the human tendency to want just a little more than we can afford, then a little more than that and allowing that addiction to numb our ethics. To avoid becoming Zombies ourselves, we must take to heart the rallying cry of Carson Drew who tells us," If we let it be about things, they win." The fun of the film is that it does not preach but delivers its message amid guffaws about USDA prime meat,flatulence,and fire water.The tension and despair over a crisis that has plagued us all is mitigated somehow by school boy humor that knows no bounds.
Visually the vapidity of the Zombies strikes a strong contrast with the warmth displayed by the "man and his dog" affection of Carson and Rosie and the romantic duo of Claire and John. Another evident contrast is the natural beauty of the countryside juxtaposed with the sterility of the mall and other Zombie zones. Ironically neither love nor beauty as presented in the relationships or landscape has a price tag but elicits happiness and appreciation that is real. A final contrast offers the celebration of new life against a splendid natural backdrop, but it comes with a very unnatural price tag, an overbearing challenge for future generations, echoing Crusher's admonition, "We would not do this to our people."
The casting of Zombie Bankers is excellent, the acting too, highlighted but not limited to Drew Snyder's performance, keeps the film light, lively, and full of surprises with an underlying message that Wordsworth phrased so aptly," Getting and spending, we lay waste our powers."
