Directed by Steven Soderbergh, “The Laundromat” is about a fictional woman, Ellen Martin, played by Meryl Streep, who uncovers a conspiracy about rich people and their “tax havens (places with little to no taxes)” after the sudden death of her husband. It was released by Netflix on Oct. 18. Soderbergh, who is known for his independent films, like “Erin Brockovich” and the “Ocean’s” series, addresses very timely and distressing issues about financial debauchery in this film. Though the movie sheds light on complex issues that deserve the world’s attention, the film itself is made to be confusing and frustrating to watch. Viewers are more likely to view the film for the topic it addresses than its actual merit in filmmaking.
Specifically, the movie calls attention to the 2016 Panama Papers scandal which uncovered the dealings of the world’s largest offshore law firm, Panama-based Mossack Fonseca. The scandal involved an unprecedented release of data from the law firm that revealed the many ways rich people use to hide their money with offshore tax havens. The data release revealed the 140 or so politicians and national leaders, their families and associates involved in the scheme.
Before the movie was even available to the public, Jürgen Mossack and Ramón Fonseca tried to halt the film’s release in court, claiming defamation. The court’s refusal to stop the release led to the following statement by Netflix, “This lawsuit was a frivolous legal stunt designed to censor creative expression. Steven Soderbergh’s film tells an important story about the exploitation of innocent people and the misuse of the world’s financial system. Fortunately, you can now watch ‘The Laundromat’ — the film that Mossack and Fonesca tried to censor — on Netflix.”
The movie begins with Mossack (Gary Oldman) and Fonseca (Antonio Banderas) speaking over a zoomed in shot of Benjamin Franklin’s face on a hundred-dollar bill. At first it seems as if Ben Franklin is the initial narrator, but then Mossack and Fonseca appear, continuing their soliloquies about money. Their charm and nonchalance passes as ironic sarcasm to a viewer. The pair uses cavemen discovering fire to explain what life was like before money. Banderas’ Fonseca casually states, “Money has more names than ever before” as they switch from the wild home of the cavemen to a crowded upscale bar.
Soon after this seemingly sardonic introduction, Ellen Martin appears with her husband, Joe, getting onto a boat tour, the setting of his sudden death. As quickly as Joe arrived in the film, he leaves. His death, the ultimate catalyst for Ellen’s investigation into the firm Mossack Fonseca, comes and ends rapidly, as if the scene of his death was created as more of an afterthought to help the overall explanation of the plotline. Though Ellen’s love for her husband fuels her desire for justice, the movie only briefly shows her grief. And if the fictional wife does not grieve his loss, the audience definitely does not either.
Following Joe’s death, the movie continues with many switching scenes and rapid storyline shifts that make the plotline difficult to fully understand. The overall film is a confusing, sarcastic, asinine collection of scenes that jump from one narrative to the next. A viewer goes from a scene with Ellen taking a flight to Panama to a Mossack Fonesca employee dying by electrocution to a South African businessman caught cheating with his daughter’s friend by his daughter. Mossack and Fonseca appear throughout the film as characters and narrators, giving their rules for money making. Since we have history on our side, we know how the story plays out. In the end Mossack and Fonseca’s firm collapses and they are sent to prison. . . where they serve for only three months before being released. The ending calls attention to the failure of our judicial system in punishing white collar criminals. Mossack and Fonseca exhibit no remorse, claiming they did not do anything wrong really since after all, “The United States is the biggest tax haven in the world.” And how much room does an American made film like this have to judge?
The movie finishes with a shot of Streep who, during a monologue, slowly starts to pull off all her wigs and costumes to signal a switch from her character talking to Streep talking. She vocalizes everything wrong about the Panama Papers scandal, exploitation by the wealthy and the “massive, evasive corruption of the legal profession.” The camera cuts out at Streep posing as the Statue of Liberty, with a hairbrush as her torch and a towel as her draping garment, a perfectly sarcastic and disturbing image to finish off an unsatisfying and unsettling film.
Maria Marabito is a third-year student majoring in English writings track. MM883631@wcupa.edu