The Banker: an unknown story in a familiar template

Several months ago, Apple wanted to rely on a film project to break into the Oscars and announce its presence as a new player in the world of films. The movie adopted by Apple was "The Banker" (banker), based on "Charisma", two stars, one old and one young; the old Samiel L. Jackson and the young Anthony Mackey, and the two appeared together in the films "Marvel World".

But Apple's plan changed when Cynthia Garrett, daughter of Bernard Garrett, one of the two star characters, who is embodied by Macky, filed a lawsuit accusing her half-brother, Bernard Garrett Jr. (one of the film's producers), of sexual harassment of her and her sister when they were two children.

The movie was ready to be shown on the closing night of the American Film Foundation's film festival last November, then the cinema show on December 6 and qualification for the Oscars, but the accounts changed after Cynthia’s suit, and because Apple avoids all the controversy, I decided to withdraw the film from the festival and cancel Film screening, Bernard Garrett being removed from production, and postponement to this month.

The "banker" is based on a widely known true story of African American investors who defrauded the American financial system in the 1950s and 1960s, built a financial empire, and worked to raise awareness against racist housing practices in the United States at the time.

When we say circumvent it does not mean that they embezzled money, but they used the trick to remove the injustice from themselves and to adapt to work in an environment that excludes the black element from possessing anything under the control of the white man without right.

The battle in the "banker" over the civil rights related to the manufacture or ownership of real estate and the main weapon is the capital, the majority of which falls under the control of the whites. Bernard Garrett (Mackie) intends to enter the real estate market and circumvent the laws of racial discrimination, a dream that flirts with his imagination since his childhood in the 1930s, and decides to establish his own business with his wife Eunice (Nia Long) and their son.

Eunice introduces her husband to her loud old friend Joe Morris (Jackson) who is bruising jokes, who cast it on others without thinking about their feelings. Morris and Garrett become partners, but the racist environment prevents them from doing many things, which forces them to find a third white person on the front.

They decide to employ Matt Steiner (Nicholas Holt), a white, toiling class and train him as an ally and not as a partner, so that the Trojans have them to enter the places they cannot enter alone, and the three launch a group of radical behind the scenes operations to drop apartheid in the real estate industry.

Since they are in the real estate game, knowing that it is the right hand for banking, they decided to enter at the end, but they faced the same problem, which is the inability of two black men to enter the door of financial institutions, and if they entered, no one would turn to them, and even if the person required to meet him was present in front of them and he would see them, he would ask They both leave, so they use a Trojan horse trick to achieve their goal.

"The Banker" directed by George Nolphy, which is an unknown story that the film tells in a very familiar form, which means that Nolphy is afraid of taking risks. Nolve and his writers Nissole Levay, David Lewis and Stan Linger focused on topics that excite and applaud the audience, and which all the biographical films before this film did, which we are somewhat fed up with.

Danish photographer Charlotte Kristensen adds dark brown lighting to give the photo an old look. There is a very emotional scene in which Garrett cast "Monologue" in a court before a group of white judges, complaining about the cruelty of the apartheid regime and repression. And there are scenes of characters who come together to say that it will be impossible to fight something, but they will defeat the impossible and fight it to achieve their dream. We do not say that it is bad, but it is not new, but rather "cliché". The "banker" is trying to achieve the goal achieved by the movie "Hidden Figures" four years ago. Instead of reviving real prominent figures from cinematic history books, such as "Selma" and "Loving", it reveals the names of ordinary personalities who defied the existing system, exactly as it happened With the engineers in the movie mentioned in the first paragraph.

But unlike “Hidden Figures,” the banker does not need to put a sympathetic white character on the black to break the monotony of racist attacks against his characters, but focuses on the relationship of the three or Bernard and Joe's partnership with Alliance with Matt as a criticism of the then-existing system, and he clearly says Even allies may face failure despite their good intentions.

Although Mackey performed a serious character and with a grim face suffered a lot, the movie does not allow him to do more than that except for some moments here and there, but Jackson is the one who ignites the movie with a cheerful performance, a sarcastic tone and a funny voice in the way he talks, even if it is not a joke. Jackson's personality as a businessman who is badly appreciated in society and agrees with Bernard that the black minority in America deserves more, especially as it lives in a critical economic and social situation. By adding Matt's influence to the partnership and he must learn to behave and present himself as a wealthy man from the east coast, the addition gives a deeper insight into class factors in the business world. Eunice does not do much in the text except to support her husband, and sometimes she shares them in defrauding laws, and displays the costumes of that era!

"Banker" is one of the rare films that does not focus on bank robbery or capitalization of capitalism, but it can be viewed from a different angle. It is true that it does not bring anything new in the context of biographical films, but it is a film that is authentic in terms of the characters ’style in obtaining their desired results without harming anyone. For example, when Matt enters the banks to follow the instructions of his two allies, they will be disguised as a driver and cleaner who listens to his conversations, and if he needs help, he meets with them in the bathroom to listen to their instructions.

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And this is precisely the movie's political statement: Without the support of banks, black Americans are denied the right to generate wealth.

The film's political statement: Without the support of banks, black Americans are denied the right to generate wealth.

Mackey performs a serious character and with a grim face suffered a lot, but the movie does not allow him to do more than that, but Jackson is the one who ignites the film with a cheerful performance, a sarcastic tone and a funny voice.