Directed by Tim Tykwer
"The International," by German director Tim Tykwer, opened the Berlin Film Festival this year. No one working in the pre-production phase of the film could have imagined that the movie, which started shooting in 2007, would become a jewel in the crown of misery covering the world's current situation in the finance and banking sector.
The action-packed film starts with an ominous scene where the main character, Interpol agent Louis Salinger (Clive Owen), stands in the rain in front of Berlin's railway station. The storm sets the mood of the film in the very beginning.
Defunct banks become notorious for the unbelievable amount of horrific crimes they committed 's including money laundering, corruption, arms dealing and selling nuclear technologies, trying to destabilize world governments and attempting to assassinate world leaders, supporting terrorism and probably every other offense imaginable.
The film tries to examine, and show the side effects of, capitalism and globalization. Because of its relevance to today's economic issues it is doomed for success. Crisis sells.
"The International" continues to focus on the Sisyphic work Louis Salinger and Manhattan Assistant District Attorney Eleanor Whitman (Naomi Watts) are doing. Their efforts to bring down the biggest and most influential bank in the world 's the International Bank of Business and Credit 's take them around the world searching for justice.
Risking their lives, Louis and Eleanor flee Berlin for New York, and then go to France and Luxembourg, Milan and Istanbul. This makes "The International" really international in a geographic sense, along with all the other meanings the film's title carries.
The intense and intricate plot sometimes gets overloaded with fight scenes and shoot-outs, long irrelevant scenes and illogical turns. Despite this, "The International" is the type of film everyone can expect to see more in the near future.
Now showing in all three countries.
