Chasing Madoff

Read the other reviews. There, you will find two schools of thought; those who rate this documentary ***very*** highly and those who rate is ***very*** poorly. What's going on ? This is, I believe, a microcosm of the United States today where simplistic ideology rules Washington. On one hand, you will find those who argue that more regulation is needed and, on the other hand, those who argue that less regulation is the cure because the bureaucrats in Washington are unable to regulate competently. The facts are that if your local firemen are incompetent, the solution is NOT to eliminate fire-fighters, as some right-wingers argue, but to insure that they are competent. The solution is also NOT to increase the number of firemen, as some left-wingers argue. Essentially, this documentary argues not from the viewpoint of Bernie Madoff's evil, but from the viewpoint of the incompetence of Washington bureaucrats. THAT is the truth.

Never have I seen a film misdirected so well. Director Jeff Prosserman's comedy staring buffoon Harry Markopolos draws influence from Tommy Wiseau's THE ROOM. Why was Prosserman's vision not assessed by functioning adults? This film is indicative of everything wrong in documentary filmmaking today. Personally I was sad to have witnessed such a cinematic holocaust. Don't waste your time! Prosserman clearly has no idea what he's doing. If you look at Prosserman's previous work you'll find similar reviews. Emblematic of Canadian cinema, Chasing Madoff fails to meet the sufficient requirements to entertain an audience. If you're into watching films where the director has no clue where he is, what's going on or what he's doing, this film is right up your alley.

I very much liked this documentary. All the pieces were there. The backstory of the guys involved, relevant clips and commentary, human interest. But we get it...you own guns and were afraid for your life. Wayyyy overdid it, especially considering for the most part nobody was even after you. The number of times you simulate loading a firearm for no reason just weighs down all the content. Sucks me right out of it. There is so much there and yet the constant backtracking to how heavily armed you were just creates a major distraction from what you accomplished.

Could have used a bit more on Madoff's background. Probably could have replaced most of the above issue with that.

The basic story was ripe for an excellent documentary. It was about how a small group of people tried warning others about Madoff. They failed, but not for lack of trying, and good for them for trying.

However, the documentary itself is far too dramatic. After awhile it was tiring to hear the small group tout itself as being extraordinarily brave. The main guy who stuck with it ended up looking as disturbed as Madoff--living in a paranoid fantasy world where his family was in constant danger.

It runs about an hour and a half. It would have been a very good 50-minute documentary. But it drags on and on, often not getting anywhere.

Too bad. It had a real story to tell.

Also missing is any investigative reporting, after the fact, about why the people who were alerted (looking at you SEC, Wall Street Journal) didn't act? We still don't know why from this documentary.

There have been many documentary shows about Madoff. It's a fascinating and horrifying story. But this example resembles a low budget episode of a "crooks and grifters" TV reality show. Obviously, video of Madoffs early career is rare. But the producers fill the void with stock shots, clips from old time movies and inserts that are clearly meant to provide something to watch as the narrator drones on. And to keep things interesting they rely on every cinematic bromide that their computer can manage: inserts with the edges out of focus, sepia toned clips to simulate "vintage" material and flicker-frame montages that repeat the same pointless visuals over and over and over. Its a 40 minute TV show inflated to feature length. Frontline, BBC and others have covered this material better. And the video is well laced with sobbing investors, folks rich enough to interest Madoff with their millions, yet foolish and careless enough to have blindly put all their nest eggs in the same basket. They claim over and over that they have "lost everything" when it is well known that the investors did get a substantial portion of their money back. The Frontline Madoff Affair is a much better watch.