High Speed Money - Die Nick Leeson Story

I'll get a lot of argument on this, I suspect, but I tend to think that all history, biography and autobiography is in fact a kind of fiction. I also think that for all intents and purposes, it's not necessary to worry too much about how 'true' or 'accurate' this film is in regards to telling the 'real' story of the Baring's Bank collapse. Because at the end of the day, we'll never know. For every person involved or affected by that event there's another version of the truth, and finding the 'true' truth is just about impossible. So to hell with it! Let's just look at 'Rogue Trader' as a story, shall we?

I can't honestly say that I enjoyed this film, mainly because I found it so exquisitely awful that I was scrunching my eyes shut and moaning more and more loudly as events unfolded. As depicted here, Nick Leeson wasn't exactly a criminal, he was just criminally stupid ... and naive ... and pathetic ... and -- and -- well, I found myself screaming at the tv set "No, you fool, don't, stop now, stop now, quit while you're ahead --- arrrrggghhh!!!"

It is almost impossible to believe, that one person could collapse an entire bank. And of course, it is impossible. Nick Lesson didn't bring down Baring's on his own, he had a lot of help from people who both wittingly and unwittingly conspired to support his insane behaviour. Regardless of whose truth you're telling, that point is pretty safe to make, I think. And I think this film does a good job of demonstrating that. I also think it does a good job of capturing the insanity of Futures Trading (surely a hideously evil invention) and of showing how Gordon Gekko got it really, really wrong.

At the end of the day, however, the film stands or falls by Ewan McGregor's performace as Nick Leeson ... and again, he doesn't disappoint. Again, we are treated to a portrayal of a deeply human, deeply flawed individual, as only McGregor can reveal. His Leeson is a man who makes mistake after mistake, who is far smaller than he wants to be, who isn't without conscience or moral compass but whose many fears outweigh his few strengths. He's the very embodiment of the 'fatal flaw' theory, brought to ruin by his weaknesses and failings.

I find it frighteningly easy to identify with McGregor's Leeson. What he did, many of us have been tempted to do, or have done, in various small ways. Or maybe not so small. Some people find him profoundly offensive, others find him pathetic. Whatever your reaction to this film, the fact that you even have one shows that it's worked. It's made you feel something about what happened ... or at least, this version of what happened. Perhaps some of us resent being made to feel any kind of empathy for this character. By making him human, his actions are humanised, made comprehensible ... and that's uncomfortable.

It's far more comfortable keeping him demonised, reprehensible, beyond understanding or forgiveness, for in that way we keep ourselves safe. We are not like him. There is nothing that we share. He is ... other.

The problem is, he isn't. That's where Rogue Trader succeeds, I think. In showing us that the Nick Leesons of this world aren't monsters at all ... they're people, like us, who make mistakes, like we do. By challenging us ... you say you would never ever do something like this, but can you be sure? Really? Truly? This isn't a lighthearted film, a fun film. It's a fascinating character study and a timely reminder of that saying that goes something like ..

A cunning scoundrel in exotic Singapore single-handedly brings down Barings Bank, established two centuries ago and one of England's foremost financial institutions. Another wildly improbable sting flick? Not at all - the story is based on actual events and the film sticks pretty close to the facts. Nick Leeson, brilliant and ambitious young trader, superstar of the Singapore stock market, incurs staggering losses. Unwilling to jeopardize his prospects for advancement, he tries to cover his tracks by pulling non-existent rabbits out of imaginary hats. The literally gut-wrenching stress of this Sisyphusian endeavor is illustrated by Leeson's frequent bouts of vomiting (while in prison, he underwent surgery to remove a tumor along with part of his colon and large intestine, and chemotherapy after being released). The film's flaw is that it glosses over the bank's role in the disaster. Barings turned a neophyte loose in an foreign arena with total control of the operation and minimal supervision. Putting the same individual in charge of both the front office and back office bypasses the appropriate checks and balances, and is tantamount to having the fox guard the hen-house. The official report of the Bank of England concluded that Barings' failure to segregate Leeson's duties was "reprehensible," and those with "direct executive responsibility for establishing effective controls must bear much of the blame." Yet little mention is made of this in the film. And the mechanizations of the stock market are downright incomprehensible at times. Nevertheless, this is an interesting story and Ewan McGregor turns in another outstanding performance.

I disagree with the other reviews here. I enjoyed the movie very much and I don't even know a bond from a stock from a box of crackers, nor did the know the story of this man and what transpired. But the movie explains a lot as its going along, and by the end, I was interested to know exactly how much he was going to get away with. Ewan is terrific as always.

I knew almost nothing about the Barings Bank collapse and absolutely nothing about futures trading before seeing this movie. Still, I enjoyed it quite a bit. Yes, it is told from Nick Leeson's point of view, so it should probably be taken with a huge grain of salt, but it was still quite enjoyable and interesting. One of Ewan McGregor's strengths as an actor is his ability to make the audience root for his somewhat shady characters. He was wonderful in this movie. Of course, I still don't know a thing about futures trading.

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