Cinema_Fan Coincidently part produced by Newmarket Capital Group LLC, USA and part Distributed by Capitol Films, France, amongst others; the flavour of the day is most certainly capital. While the show business entrepreneur and capitalist Sir David Frost, and executive producer to the movie Rogue Trader, was travelling back from Singapore, after interviewing Nick Leeson, while still in prison, he came up with an idea of capitalising on the theory of making a movie on the life of said prisoner.The result, taken from the self-penned autobiography of Nick Leeson, how true and unbiased this is is only known by Leeson and his close associates. In what at first seems to be a straight to video / television movie, is somewhat different, this gritty, basic and though lacking in the big budget league, is very down to earth, this fine little movie works well.Played by, then in his mid to late twenties, Ewan McGregor and only three years after his break through movie Trainspotting (1996), and shortly after Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace (1999) too, he, according to the journals of Leeson, is playing the eager and willing recipient of a chance of a life time. This tiny little mouse has been sent to Singapore, to correct and finalise the financial dealings, for Barings Bank, in the Asian sector, and while the cats are away, the mice will play.The narrative, both visual and verbally chronicled, is of an optimistic and fruitful future, for both employer and employee, with McGregor playing the wide-eyed financial barrow boy cum playboy, who, rightly so, just wants to progress to the top of his career. Unfortunately, complacency is the victor here, the anticipation of failure is slowly built up, but not in a tedious fashion either, Leeson is seen here as the Mr. Nice Guy, but nice does not work in the world of cutthroat finance trading. The narrative, in a flick of a wrist, the turn of a deal, becomes pessimistic, daunting and high-octane adrenaline.Sliding along with a soundtrack that gently pushes and squeezes the unforeseen catastrophe is the likes of Andy Williams "Can't Take My Eyes off You", Blurs "Song 2", Leftfields "Strom 3000" and with what appears to be Rogue Traders signature tune "Money (That's What I Want)" performed by Barrett Strong.With its coarse language and respectable soundtrack Rogue Trader, a.k.a. the story of Nick Leeson and his down fall, is an education, or propaganda considering ones view point, of how the money market, and its individual stalls, deal with greed, ignorance and failure.

welshNick I spent twenty years working in the City of London and was actually working for Barings at time of the scandal. Naturally it shook the city, I will always remember the Monday morning, cutting through the press corps outside the building asking such idiot questions like 'Have you heard the news about Barings ?' But back to the film, it tells the story of Nick Leeson the man who broke Barings. He tells of all the problems he suffered with untrained staff, mistakes, and how he tried to cover for his staff. Nothing was ever his fault. This part of the film was pure fiction, mistakes always get made and the mistake Kim made at the start would not necessarily have resulted in her firing. Nick himself remains blameless in the film when what he should have been doing was telling his boss to hire some decent people. The fault with the Barings scandal of course lies with the management. They believed it because they wanted to. No dealer can make 20 million in a week unless he is gambling in excess of 2 billion or committing a fraud. A good film for those uninitiated in the way the financial world works but not totally accurate. I hear Nick Leeson is working for a football club in Ireland now. I harbour no grudges for the fact I didn't get my entire bonus that year or the fact ING made me redundant when they took Barings over !!!

mystarry 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.

TheNorthernMonkee SPOILERSThe story of Nick Leeson is well known throughout Britain, even before this biography of Leeson was released in 1999, the memories of Barings collapsing and Leeson being arrested are two which hold firm in the memory. This, almost tribute, is based on his own autobiography and as a result is very much on his side. Presenting Leeson as the nice, hard working guy, who simply wants to aim high, "Rogue Trader" isn't afraid to show him as a man who didn't know when to quit, but it isn't going to really chastise him either.Starting with Leeson's first expedition to the far east as a Clerk for Barings, "Rogue Trader" covers his entire experience in asia. Meeting his wife Lisa (the always stunning Anna Friel) whilst working as a Clerk, we experience them falling in love and marrying and throughout the whole film, we are told that they are passionately in love. Unfortunately for Leeson, whilst simultaneously being happily married, he is also causing one of the biggest shocks in financial Market history."Rogue Trader" is a very good film. With Ewan McGregor as Leeson, they've got an experienced actor who is used to performing awkward roles and who can portray Leeson as the man who seems to have lost control of his own world. McGregor is outstanding as Leeson, and he is helped by Anna Friel, who perhaps doesn't put in her finest performance, Tim McInnerny and other quality actors who are underused. Ultimately however, these people were bound to be limited in their performances since the film is primarily about the Leesons.It's difficult to know what to say about "Rogue Trader" really. The scripting is obviously going to be down to earth and realistic since it was based on Leeson's own book. The acting by McGregor is superb and whilst Friel doesn't put in her best performance, she's still acceptable as the unaware wife. There's not going to be any special effects, so there's nothing to comment on there. James Dearden who directs and also transforms Leeson's book, does a brilliant job behind the camera as he shows the gritty realism of the Trading Floor whilst, simultaneously he shows the internal torment of Leeson.There feels like there is little else to say really. The story of Nick Leeson is one which a lot of people remember happening live. Not even a decade has passed since the event, and therefore events will still be fresh in memory. With Leeson's book being transformed into this film, we've been shown a decent visual account of what happened to Barings. Whilst there's no real way to know just how accurate the book and subsequent film both are, for entertainment value, "Rogue Trader" is a good film. The problem with true stories is that often the one guy we bond with and feel for, suffers and becomes the loser. In the case of Nick Leeson, it really is a case of the nice guy finishing last.