The Company Men

·                     Title: The Company Men      

·                     Duration: 109 min

·                     Country: United States

·                     Director: John Wells

·                     Script: John Wells

·                     Year: 2010

·                     Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pie66GR63Fc&t=20s

Synopsis

When the publicly held shipbuilding corporation Global Transportation Systems (GTX) is downsized in the midst of the recession, many employees are fired, including Bobby Walker (Ben Affleck). Walker is an employee with a six-figure salary, a wife, a teenage son and younger daughter. Bobby will have to rethink his life and role as husband and father after this because he loses everything.

Chief Financial Officer Gene McClary (Tommy Lee Jones) questions the ethics of spending money to build new corporate headquarters while laying off employees, but Salinger asserts that the deep cuts are necessary to increase profits, to increase the stock price and discourage a rumoured hostile takeover of the company. McClary and Senior manager Phil Woodward (Chris Cooper), are fired also.

At the end Woodward frustrated and depressed, he commits suicide in his garage for carbon monoxide poisoning. McClary starts his own business and Walker is the first person to hire. Walker comes to the offices to help start a new business made up of many former GTX employees.

'Banking and Finance' in the film

At the beginning, the company starts to remove departments with his corresponding reduction of staff. This is due to the bankruptcy, fusions of a few companies and descent of the prices in the stock market of his shares.

The GTX Company got, after that, increase two points their prices in the stock market. But even so, it followed with the reductions of staff to continue growing. The main director of GTX keeps going with this method.  It is discovered that this one is the best paid and that might increase the prices if to reduce their salary or if to sell the new building.

At the end of the film, one of the protagonist, who was fired, creates his own small business whose goal was to look for new investors.

Personal commentary

 

This movie is a drama in which the massive fired is represented in big companies, for the simple fact of management decisions. Bobby and his coworkers are dismissed, they had a good life with many luxuries and they lost everything, even finishing with their lives.

The Company Men is a film that shows the reality of the business world in which we live and the constant changes that occur in it.