The most important film in the 2016 Oscar race is The Big Short, which has five nominations, one of which is for best picture. The reason for its importance is the relevance of its subject matter—the greed, stupidity, and corruption that led to the collapse of the financial markets in 2008. Hollywood has made a very good movie about the years leading up to the crash. But because the filmmakers could never (and probably did not desire to) sell the studios a movie about the Marxists or heterodox economists who predicted the crash (both have motives that are regarded with great suspicion in our society), they picked the investment managers. The Big Short wouldn't work if it didn't have a way of making all of this difficulty accessible and even entertaining to ordinary people, and that way is this: exposing the complexity of these financial products as total bullshit. When it comes to economics, do not make the movie you think people might watch, but the one you know they will watch. People are watching The Big Short. by Charles Mudede