The Laundromat (Panama Papers)
The Laundromat (Panama Papers)
Directed by Steven Soderbergh
Starring: Gary Oldman, Antonio Banderas, Meryl Streep, James Cromwell, Jeff Michalski, Jane Morris, Robert Patrick, Chris McLaughlin, Jay Paulson, Melissa Rauch, Juliet Donenfeld, Brock Brenner, Larry Clarke, David Schwimmer, Marsha Stephanie Blake, Jeffrey Wright, Sharon Stone, Alexander Stasko, Myron Parker Wright, Miriam A. Hyman, Veronica Osorio, Brenda Zamora, Frank Gallegos, Nonso Anozie, Miracle Washington, Jessica Allain, Jonah Gould, Larry Wilmore, Nikki Amuka-Bird, Matthias Schoenaerts, Rosalind Chao, Kunjue Li, Ming Lo, Jesse Wang
Country: USA
Year: 2019
Review author: Roberto Matteucci
Click Here for Italian Version
“The secret life of money.”
A huge financial scandal erupted in 2016.
The Icij consortium and over one hundred newspapers from worldwide published the results of an investigation on offshore companies in Panama.
A whistle-blower had stolen the data and names of encrypted bank accounts from inside the Mossack Fonseca law firm in Panama. The information was delivered to the German tabloid Süddeutsche Zeitung.
The law firm created companies in countries with impenetrable banking secrecy, for clients all over the world. They were particular clients, they wanted maximum privacy, both on the identifies and on the origin of the funds.
The stolen files were immense: 11.5 million documents, 2.6 terabytes of data, contained material from 214,000 companies and 14,000 customers. (1)
Their analysis found out illustrious personalities hidden among the members of shell companies: many politicians and their relatives, presidents, kings, footballers, financiers, entrepreneurs.
The research was intriguing, the journalists had a sustained tone, convinced, perhaps in good faith, that they had discovered the mysteries of humanity, but there is something strange. In most states, having an account abroad is not a crime. The inquiry was not deep. The reporters were focused on the striking names, and so they did not follow the most important question: where did the money come from? This would have been the fundamental nucleus. This would have been shocking news, otherwise, as it later happened, the scandal would have waned in the indifference of components of the list.
However, these details do not interest the writers of the film Panama Papers - The Laundromat by director Steven Soderbergh, presented at the 76th Venice Film Festival.
Ellen Martin is a mature woman, married to a beloved man. They have an accident during a boat trip on George Lake: the ship sinks, her husband dies. Ellen hopes to get insurance compensation, she wants to use the money to buy a flat in Las Vegas. She wishes for a specific one. Because from the window, she can see the street corner of the first meeting with her husband. This romantic desire dissolves due to insurance and counter-insurance.
The lake insurance has changed owners many times. The last are fictitious properties.
Ellen, proud, desires to know the actual proprietors. So, she goes to Nevis, on the beautiful island of Saint Kitts and Nevis in the Caribbean, a city of bright colours. And then in Panama ("like the hat").
The film is choral with fake characters, caricatures.
Ellen is sweet, loving with her family, melancholy after her husband's death, dignified and stubborn. She is also false, it is a mise-en-scène, but not a deception.
The other protagonists, with differences, can be defined as selfish, irascible, violent, angry, petty and above all stingy. On the top level, there are murderers, Mafia, drug traffickers, terrorists.
Soderbergh is an expert professional, he has directed films of various kinds, always working with actors of high artistic depth.
The Laundromat has different principles. The subject is difficult, complicated, many numbers, even boring, intricate, cumbersome: so unpopular. The director explains how he can convert a news headline into an ironic one and a half-hour film:
“Well, I think the challenge, as you were saying, is how to - how do you turn a story that was basically a newspaper headline that involved activity that I think a lot of people were not familiar with into a story that somehow connects to your real-world experience. That was the trick, is, how do we convince people that, even if you don't have a lot of money, you're affected by this behavior.
And we researched the stories behind the Panama Papers. This Lake George boat accident, 21 people died. And as it turns out, there was no insurance. The insurance that the cruise company thought they had existed within another company within another company. None of them were real. And all those people got screwed.” (2)
The director had to find the right keys to make the film popular. Two are evident. One is ordinary and banal: a priori, the rich are greedy, miserly and, surely, their money was stolen.
The second is linguistic: converting a sad event into a funny comedy. Again, the author explains how he transfigured the characters, even the ferocious ones, into a kind of cartoon:
“The intention was to keep you entertained while we get into these issues. [Screenwriter] Scott Burns reached out to me and said, “Tell me if you’re interested.” Jake’s book is a compelling, beautifully written retelling of how the story broke from the journalist’s side. I said, “Jake is going to be really important to the film, but I don’t want to make a movie about journalists uncovering a story. That’s been done multiple times, and done very well.” Scott and I had each seen [Argentine Damián Szifron’s film] “Wild Tales,” a series of stories jumping around the globe, and Scott suggested something similar. I said, “That sounds like fun,” which is not a word usually associated with such a topic. It’s been funny to read some stories about the movie; people assume it’s “All the President’s Men.” I always think, “Boy, are they in for a surprise.” (2)
There is another important fake protagonist in Soderbergh's story. She is anonymous, modestly dressed, clumsy, shy. Her job is to sign papers. A lot of papers, thousands of papers. She is a former assistant and is now the unintentional administrator of very valuable companies. The previous legal attorneys were also chosen from the category of secretaries. They just have one quality: sign forms without understanding anything. Previously, Latin assistance had this role. She dies wildly and causes panic in the law firm. She was the delegate of twenty-five thousand companies. Therefore, the office has to print quickly twenty-five thousand forms to amend the company signature.
The director describes the lawyers Mossack and Fonseca using lights, sequins, tailcoats, hyperbolic colours, casino. He exhibits their unbridled luxury.
Some scenes are emblematic. An example is the Charles episode. Charles has an unknown business, but clearly outlawed, but with a lot of income. He has a gorgeous mansion in Los Angeles, but he has dubious family behaviour. Become the lover of chubby teenage daughter's roommate. When wife and daughter discover the grim relationship, Charles replies with his standard question "How much?"
They live in exaggerated sumptuousness, like the gold earphones: "Is gold waterproof?"
However, Charles is a bastard. He reaches an agreement with the two women, gives them certificates for twenty million dollars. Like a scoundrel, with a series of financial transactions, he transforms the twenty million in thirty-seven dollars, provoking the ladies’ anger when they try to withdraw.
The artificial reality is narrated when Ellen is in Nives. Nives is a tax haven where thousands of companies are based. Ellen expects to find their offices in giant skyscrapers. She has an unwelcome surprise. Long-shot on the Caribbean city, street noise. The camera turns on itself, framing the bottom of the road. Long-shot, Ellen is walking, towards the camera, looking around, she has a small sheet with the insurance address in her hand, passes near an old Fiat 500. The fixed camera follows Ellen. Cut, she found the place, she is in front, there are only mailboxes on the wall of a humble building. The P.O. Boxes are the head offices of powerful companies. The camera moves back and Ellen accidentally crosses with the culprit.
Social analysis is obvious, as the ethical one, evil is easily identifiable. Panama is a microcosm of something more complex.
There are many graphic scenes, banknote designs from all over the world flutter in the film.
The language is fiction. The scenery is deliberately an imitation, the camera, incessantly, close, allows the actors to speak directly to the audience.
A bank is completely clear, aseptic; a big table is located in the centre of a large room, the camera moves around.
As totally fake, but probably not so much, is the prison in which Mossack and Fonseca are locked.
It is an enchanting prison. Long-shot. The frame is divided into two parts vertically. Above a stepping bridge, the guards are walking on it. Under there are the cells. In the central one, there are only two lawyers, the others are full of convicts, all leaning against the bars. The light is red, fake, with neon lights and intense white illumination.
The author is careful with the shots, the framing, the focus, the continuous changes of position.
Nevertheless, is it really an invention? The narrative ends with Meryl Streep showing reality in a warehouse containing the film's sets. This is the style of the film, playing on irony, on the many, too many and long dialogues.
The film has too many names, too many companies, too many characters, maybe too many times too much.
On the list of Panama Papers, there are many artists, so the screenwriters mock themselves. To obtain tax advantages, many corporations are based in Delaware and the lawyers caustically declare: “The director of this movie has five”; "Even our writer has one."
At the 76th Venice Film Festival, the Golden Lion for Lifetime Achievement was awarded to the talented Pedro Almodóvar, present in Venice. The Spanish director and his brother, who produced his films, had companies in Panama. (3)
If they had met, Steven Soderbergh could have asked him to collaborate on the script, how many interesting details points would be added.