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What happened to our economy? Watch this documentary

If you watched the snooze fest that was the Academy Awards this year, you might have been awakened briefly by Charles Ferguson.He’s the award-winning documentary director who began his speech by saying: “Forgive me, I must start by pointing out that three years after a horrific financial crisis caused by massive fraud not a single financial executive has gone to jail, and that’s wrong.”“
Charles Ferguson (L) and Audrey Marrs (R) pose backstage with their Oscars  for for Best Documentary Feature for the 'Inside Job'
Charles Ferguson (L) and Audrey Marrs (R) pose backstage with their Oscars for for Best Documentary Feature for the 'Inside Job'MIKE BLAKE / Reuters / Today

If you watched the snooze fest that was the Academy Awards this year, you might have been awakened briefly by Charles Ferguson.

He’s the award-winning documentary director who began his speech by saying: “Forgive me, I must start by pointing out that three years after a horrific financial crisis caused by massive fraud not a single financial executive has gone to jail, and that’s wrong.”

Inside Job,” the documentary that won that Academy Award, came out on DVD this week. It’s a sweeping and pointed look not just at the financial crisis that began in 2008 but also of the decades of financial decisions that led up to that point.

The documentary goes to extreme lengths to make the dense topic accessible. The bite-sized interview segments are broken up by a zippy soundtrack, sweeping views of the cities associated with high finance and flashy shots of the all the trappings of ultra-wealth enjoyed by the financiers behind the crisis.

Ferguson is a skilled interviewer, but he and his team -- including producer Audrey Marrs -- are even better editors. The interview segments we see are either short and snappy or short and painful.

In one such instance, Frederic Mishkin says he left the board of governors of the Federal Reserve in August of 2008, just when the financial system was spiraling out of control, to revise a textbook.

“Well I’m sure your textbook is important and widely read but in August of 2008, you know, some somewhat more important things were going on in the world, don’t you think?” the filmmaker asks.

Mishkin’s answer isn’t shown.