Chasing Madoff

I am obsessed with the Madoff story. Great hearing it from the story of the whistleblower.

My only problem with it is that the writer and protagonist of the story, Markopolos, persistently invents a threat to his life for which others saw no basis, and he constantly paints himself as a non-hero while describing his Herculean efforts.

It is definitely the best indictment of the SEC and shows Markopolis' incredible tenacity, and is a great watch. But the writer can't be the hero off the story and call himself a no -hero. Just let someone else write the script.

I admire Markopols greatly and can't imagine how frustrated he must have been. If there really was some threat to his life, it should have been demonstrated in some way. It just takes away from the story of the Madoff and his victims.

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.

It is a very good documentary. I would have given it a higher score, but there was way too much of the makopolis guy. His personality is like nails on a chalkboard. There was no need to interview his parents. I don't care that he was a good baby, or about any part of his bio/cv. His clear self-absorption and whiny voice assuming Madoff was out to kill him so he was forced to hunker down was ridiculous. The rest of the interviewees were fine, using their experience to tell the story from their perspective. The Madoff saga is a fascinating tale of what happens when rich people try to get richer.

I don't understand the low marks for this film. It's a lively, fascinating telling of the Madoff tale, or rather, the two Madoff tales -- one about what he did and how he got caught, the other about how the people he did it to tried to protect him.

It's refreshing to see everyday people working in finance, and even more impressive to see them exercising values like sacrifice, courage, and the rule of law. Maybe the film is 10 minutes too long, but that's a small price to pay for this story.

If you're looking for an action film, rent 'Let the Bullets Fly.' If you're looking for an entertaining overview of the largest financial fraud in history, and its relevance for the rest of us, this is your documentary.

This documentary explores very interesting aspects of what went on behind the curtains while the massive Bernie Madoff's scheme developed, expanded and ultimately collapsed.

However, the documentary wastes the potential by using a very weak and wacky personal storyline anchor, which becomes repetitive and ultimately annoying after one of the main subjects starts putting out his paranoia for the n-th time.

The end result is a clumsy piece that bumps from a few high moment between a repetitive cycle of self-pity, delusion and confused thoughts of a man that slide into it after not seeing any results from his push to expose a major fraud in the making.