Four Horsemen (2012)

Wonderfully offbeat film!

Plenty to Like, Plenty to Dislike

I am only giving this movie a 1 for the great cast, though I can't imagine what any of them were thinking. This movie was horrible

The film makes a home in your brain and the only cure is to see it again.

FOUR HORSEMEN is an interesting documentary, well worth a watch for most.. As reviewers have mentioned, yes, it does try to cover a few too many topics in just over 90 minutes. But for the average person, a lot of the longer, more conspiratorial, more biased 'world order' YouTube documentaries are far too long and convoluted.Stylistically, it won some plus points with me for the smooth, easy to understand narration, but lost some for, as others have said, the slight lack of cohesion between sections, points and arguments.One last downside - on reflection, although I enjoyed the upbeat tone of the conclusion in that 'all is not lost, we can actually change things', I agree with others that the solutions put forward are potentially not viable. That said, I think some reviewers denigrate it unfairly, a documentary is meant to document the truth and put forward observations, a narrative - the documentary makers (especially these who are not huge mainstream corporates) do not make the policy, and are not even influencing those who do, so I think it's acceptable for them to put forward suggestions, right or wrong, for the viewer to look into.FOR THE POSITIVES! Overall, this documentary should probably be, in part at least, viewed by 90% of western civilisation who are not in finance or government and have no idea that this is going on. Those of you watching this or planning on it probably already have an idea, but think of how many around you really believe what their politicians tell them - we all know plenty.Whether you agree with every opinion demonstrated or not, it's an eye-opening and worthy use of 90 minutes.

When a documentary attempts to tackle the most important issues of a generation, from financial instability, to environmental degradation and terrorism, it really needs to be backed up with a lot of solid research. Unfortunately, Four Horsemen hopelessly fails to live up to its ambitions. It touches on everything from the decline of empires, to the expansion of credit and disastrous banking deregulation. It rightfully highlights the asset bubbles, the failures of foreign aid and the counter productive nature of much of the west's foreign policy. But touch is the generous word, as most issues are addressed with little more than a talking head tied together with some slick animation and stock footage. The film is strongest when stating the obvious, highlighting the offences of the banking industry, the predatory lending and illegal foreclosures. Indeed, when describing exactly what is wrong, Four Horsemen takes few risks and lands some critical blows, a welcome reintroduction for a debate that is most conspicuous by its absence. But the first warning sign for the film is when the entire history of human economics is framed in the terms of Classical versus Neoclassical, followed by the pushing of quite extreme Libertarian pet causes proposed as the only possible solutions. It marks wholly disingenuous connections regarding the glory days of the gold standard and becomes almost comical when it praises FDR on one hand and then claims 'income tax is inherently unconstitutional' on the other. A few quotes from the US Constitution and a lecture on the decline of morality, and the whole film starts to feel like a Ron Paul 2012 direct to YouTube creation. Then when casual remarks drop like: 'perhaps global warming isn't the greatest threat to our planet, but the depletion of resources', (a statement that so comprehensively against mainstream scientific opinion which contends we cannot afford to burn even the oil we have found), and the film starts to make Zeitgeist appear the model of impartial reasoning.When this is rapidly followed by 'all foreign aid is bad', suddenly the minuscule on screen presence of the most lauded guests, such highly respected development economic Ha-Joon Chang (who appears on screen just twice for a total of about sixty seconds), and the motives behind the recurring presence of the gold and silver traders becomes a little clearer. The producers of Four Horsemen may be well meaning, and who isn't rightfully outraged at the 'heads we win, tails you lose' attitude of Goldman Sachs and their ilk, or the ridiculous disconnect between real wages and real estate prices? I also doubt the proposition that 'we need more employee owned businesses' would ever lose a show of hands outside a GOP convention. But overflowing as the film is with justified indignation, the proposed solutions have all the hallmarks of a stock Libertarian: 'tax is theft, government is bad' economic thesis, albeit cleverly packaged to sneak in front of a left leaning cinema audience.

There are all sorts of rumours flying about as to the authorship of this film.Read the article: 'A Tale Of Plagiarism – I Wrote One Of The Year's Most Acclaimed Documentaries, Not That You'd Know It' on the Bleeding Cool website.No matter, as to someone who doesn't understand finance but is interested, this is a great documentary. Robert Zak, of Best For Film describes Four Horsemen as 'one of the clearest and most demystifying attempts at guiding us through the alien landscape of economics.' Watch an extract of the film by going to YouTube and searching Fiat Money.

I had the opportunity to go to the Four Horsemen UK premiere in London and I've been positively surprised. The documentary is done in an artistic way and the animations very pleasant to watch. So as soon as the film starts you are captivated by its energy. Nothing to see with some boring and interminable documentary. The different interviewees speak out without sensationalism. Although the film has an opinion, it is also full of irrefutable facts. And you don't need to have a high level of economics knowledge because everything is done to make understanding some complex concepts. So this documentary can touch everybody. As well the people who question about the current or future problems in the world that people who are just interested in good documentary features. I can just advise you to watch it! First because the film rocks and also because this is the kind of film which leaves you plenty of ideas.