Reviewed by Rosanna Lapinski. Viewed at the Santa Barbara International Film Festival.<\/p>\n
Heist: Who Stole the American Dream<\/em>, blames big banks and corporations for the 2011 collapse of the nation’s financial institutions. In this documentary call-to-action, the filmmakers assert that America’s economic crisis is the result of a \u201cbrilliantly executed coup\u201d by the \u201crichest 1%.\u201d\u00a0 Through rampant deregulation, tax breaks, and corporate lobbying, these rich organizations and wealthy individuals have pulled off the biggest heist in American history.<\/em><\/p>\n Heist<\/em> is written and directed by Frances Causey, formerly with CNN news, and co-directed by Donald Goldmacher. Thom Hartmann, a radio talk show host, narrates and gives the film the feel of a Madison Avenue production. Prominent corporate executives, politicians and pundits spotlight the transgressions of corporate greed that results in the failure of America\u2019s financial institutions. American Airlines former President and Chair Robert Crandall, Maryland Congresswoman Donna Edwards, Pulitzer Prize winning journalist David Cay Johnston, Rebuild the Dream\u2019s Van Jones, Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders and Media Matters for America\u2019s David Brock provide their insights.<\/p>\n Heist <\/em>opens with footage of Occupy Wall Street, a movement that began just a few weeks before the film\u2019s premiere. As a result of the producer\u2019s and director\u2019s thoughtful insight and careful analysis, the release of Heist<\/em> stunningly coincided with these mass protests, so deep was the filmmakers\u2019 understanding of the impending economic collapse.<\/p>\n An entry in the Fund for Santa Barbara Social Justice Award for Documentary Film for the 2012 Santa Barbara International Film Festival, Heist<\/em> devotes the last third of the film to a call to action: \u00a0for the restoration of the Fairness Doctrine, repealed by Ronald Reagan; an end the monopolization of media markets by mega firms that control the news; and to take private money out of political elections. Heist<\/em> urges Americans to re-claim their country\u2019s economy from those who have collectively defrauded them: the banks, the media, and the politicians. This is a brilliant film that will incite you to riot and rebel.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Reviewed by Rosanna Lapinski. Viewed at the Santa Barbara International Film Festival. Heist: Who Stole the American Dream, blames big banks and corporations for the 2011 collapse of the nation’s financial institutions. In this documentary call-to-action, the filmmakers assert that America’s economic crisis is the result of a \u201cbrilliantly executed coup\u201d by the \u201crichest 1%.\u201d\u00a0 […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1956,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[75,3,181],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-20008","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-documentary","category-films","category-santa-barbara-film-festival-2012"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/studentfilmreviews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20008","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/studentfilmreviews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/studentfilmreviews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/studentfilmreviews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1956"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/studentfilmreviews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=20008"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/studentfilmreviews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20008\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/studentfilmreviews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=20008"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/studentfilmreviews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=20008"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/studentfilmreviews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=20008"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}