The first scene of the film starts with blood splatter and ends with blood boiling, as this violent foreclosure drama narrates the forced evictions of families from their homes for not being able to keep up with payments. Families are served notice without advance warning, and are forced to vacate within two minutes under the threat of arrest for trespassing in houses they may have lived in for years, as it is now the bank’s property. Even to those not directly affected by the housing collapse will be appalled by the severity of the method of carrying it out. The film revolves around a now unemployed construction worker Dennis Nash (Andrew Garfield), who is willing to do anything for his son (Noah Lomax) and mother (Laura Dern). Michael Shannon plays Rick Carver, a hard-faced real-estate agent in Orlando, Florida appointed by the court for homes that have been repossessed by the bank. Carver, backed with armed officers from the sheriff’s department, supervises the process whereby the sobbing families are evicted and instructs his crew to move their possessions out onto the lawn. Shannon’s character represents the incredibly unfair and corrupt system, as a self-made property tycoon who has clawed his way up from working-class roots by taking advantage of the government at every available opportunity. Desperate for work, Nash begins to work for Carver as a builder, soon adopted as a full-time protégé, training him in eviction protocol and letting him in on the dirty secrets of his success. With his rapidly increasing income, and the imminent return to his family’s house, the work outweighed his moral reservations and at the cost of his soul. This film makes the audience disgusted by the government and greedy corporations, but also makes us question our moral compass. What would I have done in his situation to protect my family? Garfield may have been ill suited for the role as a father figure, but you move passed that as Shannon was the star of the project.
Verdict 4 out of 5
