Rogue Trader (1999)

Rogue Trader I thought was done well from the perspective that it told the story, it highlighted the important events that occurred, and it explained financial terms to viewers who do not have a financial background. As a student of finance and economics, I thought the film to be informative, not overly flamboyant (like Wolf of Wall Street), and therefore entertaining. I would recommend this movie to anyone interested in trading or the financial markets, as a story of the ramifications of one's actions.

"Dies Bildnis ist bezauberd schön"this was my title!The movie is constrained and limited to one side of the story. I do not think the movie was entirely successful, but the theme was pretty clear. Do we really know what we really want? Nick Leeson saw a picture and he tried for it. Of course in the movie, pretty much every one else was doing the same thing. I am sorry, your guidelines are bullshit. I quoted the title of a sound track item. I am no more to say. Post this as I have written, without the comment to you. IMDb policy sucks, IMDb policy sucks, IMDb policy sucks.

A great portrayal of Nick Leeson's life. The beginning as a small lackey, only good for debt collections where he satisfied his bosses, the career jump to the head of a small share trader group, executing trades for customers of the Barrings Bank ending in total chaos because of too risky trades on behalf of the bank. At first Leeson decided only for the quite riskless arbitrage, but later he started with enormous speculations on currencies losing about one billion dollars and causes the bankruptcy of the traditional Barrings Bank. Of course the managers of Barings in London didn't stop Leasons business in Southeast Asia as long as his trades were successful, despite he was the head trader and inspector of his own business, which nobody could understand. At the end Leeson was a victim of hubris and misbelief in his own abilities, a deeply human misbehavior. I think director James Dearden could not have find a better actor than Ewan McGregor for the role of Nic Leeson. His acting was realistic and of course his appearance as a banker was great. A successful and well-made film.

I very much enjoyed this film for two main reasons. Firstly, it closely resembles the book written by Nick Leeson, and secondly it does take slow steps to try and guide the viewer through the complex world of options & futures.The film did leave a realistic impression of what the high-life is for some of these traders especially those from England to which Singapore must have felt like another world. The soundtrack, although quite varying at times, also helps create the buzz of Singapore & Asia in the early 90's.There have been a lot of vocal critics of the film with comments such as boring and lack of dramatic material, but I often prefer films that stay strictly to the subject material and don't get too carried away for dramatic effect.The performance which I actually thought was best was that of Lee Ross who played Nick's friend Danny. Although quite different from the character in the book (Danny actually doesn't drink and is Greek not English), Lee's performance was well-rounded and very enjoyable as the loyal and dependable friend of Nick. That scene in the bar during the famous "mooning" incident was hilarious.If you look closely during the film you will actually see the real Danny Argyropoulos & "Ches" Lemming of which the latter actually worked alongside Nick on the Simex trading floor.Ewan McGregor was great as usual and I often find it strange to see the real Nick Leeson in a photo, as I'd became so accustomed to seeing Ewan as Nick. The very attractive Anna Friel didn't have much material to work with, but did manage to pull off the role of Lisa Sims.Although I've read much criticism of Nick Leeson, I still have seen or heard nothing to make me doubt the overall story as told by Nick. He could have put a very big boot into Barings when writing his book and would have been perfectly justified in doing so, but his main criticism was of their management practices and not whether he was in fact a "Fall Guy" for Barings.When reading the criticism of Nick, I've tried to put myself in his position and try to imagine how things were for him. Imagine you've been offered a fantastic job in the vibrant early 1990's market of Singapore, you've just been married, and your earning a fantastic salary. Surround yourself with many others like yourself, and you can imagine how things can get carried away with young guys in their mid-20's who must have thought of themselves as invincible.In the end I did end up feeling quite sorry for Nick. I'm sure if I'd lost money from investments in Barings, my sympathy wouldn't be as strong! But going from the high life in Singapore to being alone for 4 years in a jail cell is quite a shock to anyone and especially with the added pressure of developing cancer and ultimately the breakdown of your marriage. Having to part with your wife in that German police station must have been very hard.Lisa sums up the subject material late in the film when she said to Nick; "You were gambling, with other people's money", and if that is the case, then Nick is guilty as sin. But, according to the story, it all started from trying to fix the errors of others and so on. He did get himself back to profit at one point, but with most gamblers, especially after winning back lost money, it's hard to resist that one last punt.Chin up Nick!4 out of 5 stars