Essential viewing for understanding how banks systematically targeted
low income groups in over-leveraged mortgage lending practices that led
to a catastrophic economic collapse, "American Casino" is still a far
from perfect documentary. Fillmakers Leslie and Andrew Cockburn open up
the subprime mortgage crisis by interviewing key corporate
players–some concealed in shadows with their voices disguised–while
interviewing victims of criminal lending practices that have resulted
in a record number of foreclosures across the country. Black residents
of Baltimore, where the crisis has hit especially hard, tell
heartbreaking stories of how they have been or are in the process of
losing their homes. The discussion moves to California where the impact
of such foreclosures is shown for its negative effect on public safety
from abandoned swimming pools that act as breeding areas for
virus-carrying mosquitoes. A heavy-handed use of rap songs distracts
from the film's urgent message that the fallout from the crisis is far
from over.
Not Rated. 89 mins. (B-) (Three Stars)
