THE BANK

One day, child genius turned mathematician, Jim Doyle (David Wenham) walks into the country's largest bank armed with two things - a mathematical theory which appears to be the next developmental step in Mandelbrot's watershed theory of non-linear mathematics, and the teasing prospect that, with the right resources behind it, this theory may be able to accurately predict fluctuations in the stock market.

Avaricious Centabank CEO, Simon O'Reilly (Anthony La Paglia) sees in this theory practical applications which could increase the bank's already sizable profits, and hires Jim on that very day. As the ultimate perfection of Jim's theory comes closer to fruition, the two men push each other to ever escalating levels of greed, intrigue and moral and ethical questionability - none of which will ultimately come without its price.

The Bank heralds the fact that the age of globalisation has well and truly arrived, bringing with it a socio-political climate in which the rule of law is frequently usurped at the whims of multinational corporations. As Simon O'Reilly aptly puts it in this film, the society to which multinational corporations are accountable consists solely of their shareholders - not the public at large. This crowd pleasing film aptly taps into anti-globalisation sentiment generally, and recent community antagonism towards the major banks more specifically, considering the wholesale closure of bank branches across rural Australia while bank profits have continued to skyrocket in recent times.

Director Robert Connolly's feature film debut is an accomplished dramatic work from the former Tropfest short film festival winner and Australian Film Television and Radio School graduate. This epic thriller's strong performances, polished visuals and universal themes have come together to reserve a place for it amongst the new ilk of Australian films that are effectively pulling the national cinema out of the comedy doldrums that it sunk into in the late 1990's. The Bank received 9 AFI Award nominations, in 2001 including Best Film, Best Director and Best Actor, and won the award for Best Original Screenplay. The Bank also received the award for Best Editing in favour of Moulin Rouge at the 2001 IF awards.