Casino Jack and the United States of Money

7

R: Language

2010

Writer/Director: Alex Gibney

Starring: Jack Abramoff, Tom DeLay, and William Branner

Cinematography: Maryse Alberti

Music: David Robbins

Editing: Alison Ellwood

Casino Jack and the United States of Money is a documentary of our nation's greatest, most influential lobbyist - Jack Abramoff. The documentary covers his rise to lobbying from his political interest in college, to his days as a producer, and finally to his ultimate influence and embezzlement in Washington and, frankly, everywhere else in the country from Louisiana to Delaware. Ultimately, the man got exactly what he wanted: unregulated capitalism and a LOT of money. The film interviews people who have studied him and his actions, people who have worked with him, people who have been manipulated by him, and people who have reported on him. The film used a lot of news footage along with photographs and even news headlines and photos to document the tale of Jack Abramoff and all his lobbying. Like many documentaries, this film is done in chapters going step-by-step through his life and scandals.

Like many political documentaries, Casino Jack uses interviews to get a comprehensive view of Jack's actions. There also is a good use of cartoons, mostly involving money an the capital building, to express what happened in DC while Jack was around. The interviews took place in appropriate settings with a minimal set design which prevented distractions from the interviewees. Of course, that's film/television interview 101. Music also was well used to influence the emotions of the audience. Take information that could be objective and by properly adding music gave the audience the impression that what is going on in the film at the moment is not something we should like or approve of.

The image of Jack Abramoff on the movie poster is used throughout the film. Several points throughout the film, this image of Jack Abramoff appears because this is the perfect expression of Jack. He's a well-dressed, powerful, influential man, but his facial expression definitely gives the impression that his intentions are in-genuine and definitely that he has secrets.

In the past few years, lobbying has become a more open issue, and this film is a strong look into the heart of it all. The most heart-wrenching of this film is when Jack pours money into legal, American sweatshops in order to please those who give him money, feed his love of unregulated capitalism, and to manipulate politicians to believe that the sweatshops are perfectly humanitarian when in reality these sweatshops have come with abuse and lead to prostitution of poor women. These sweatshops clearly are filled with human trafficked labor. Due to Jack Abramoff's power, influence, and money he was able to convince politicians for a time that the sweatshops were more like factories as opposed to sweatshops.

The most powerful tool used in this film is specific stories of wrongs. For example, when one interviewee describes an interview with one of the laborers of the factory and when another interviewee describes a trip to Scotland that was paid by the company but in reality had nothing to do with business except maintaining connections between people. Stories like that help the audience to feel how urgent an issue this is as well as gain a comprehensive view of the situation. Many people who worked with Jack throughout his life were happy to interview and tell their story of Jack.

As a documentary, Casino Jack is very comprehensive and covers an important issue. I find I don't usually like to watch documentaries about one specific person because often times they are designed to be like a reality show, and I personally despise reality shows. Everything about reality shows, so I was glad that this film was not like a reality show and more like a documentary.