Abacus: Small Enough to Jail

Steve James is a very famous documentarian who was robbed when his master work "Hoop Dreams" was inexplicably ignored by the Oscars in the Best Documentary Feature category in 1994. His later films included "Stevie", "The Interrupters" and the moving record of Roger Ebert's last days, "Life Itself". And now finally the film that brought James his first nomination for Best Documentary Feature.

"Abacus: Small Enough to Jail" is an excellent documentary that centers on the Abacus Federal Savings Bank, a family-owned community bank in Manhattan's Chinatown which became the only bank to actually face criminal charges following the 2007 mortgage crisis - and only because it was deemed not 'too big to fail', an incredible injustice by the U.S. Justice Department merely looking for a scapegoat. But the film is not primarily socio-political; it is, in fact, a 'David vs. Goliath' story of the court battle of the Asian family's defense for their honor against the gigantic U.S. government, and, without shying away from showing the family's internal squabbles and moments of weakness, the film documents the difficult daily sacrifices necessary for them to stand up for their principles.

Perhaps some will find this too much a 'standard' documentary, but I feel the story and characters interesting enough not to necessitate a stylistic 'hyping up', and, as is, the film perfectly captures its time and place while keeping us on the edge of our seats until the final verdict. Critic Matt Zoller praised the director for "finding the universal within the specific", and for the film creating a portrait of Chinatown as a thriving community that "defines itself in relation to...American culture... but never entirely comfortable or accepted." It is also an inspiring film of an immigrant family who struggles to survive through a conflict that they know is virtually impossible over which to prevail - but still they find they cannot submit to what they see as an injustice they did not come to America for. This is a film I truly loved. Don't miss it.

I don't know if you've heard, but the American justice system is probably too cozy with the Big Banks. The beauty of this little doc is that it puts a personal face on the decidedly impersonal numbers, giving a portrait of a family unjustly taking the fall for corporations much worse than them. Especially love the natural comparison it makes to It's a Wonderful Life...because maybe it's not always that wonderful.

6/2/18. Another perspective on the 2008 financial debacle. While watching this, you have to wonder if this Chinese-run bank wasn't singled out to be the scapegoat for the what happened during the 2008 Great Recession. Just seemed like an easy target to get picked on, while the mega-banks got away with murder. Granted they had their problems with record-keeping, but they weren't the only ones. So, watch this with that in mind. Oscar-nominated and worth catching.

Very well-done documentary about small (2,651st largest bank in the U.S. at the time) family bank in Chinatown New York prosecuted for financial crimes after 2008, has interviews with all the major players (bank employees/owners, prosecutors, defense attorneys, jurors, audio from witnesses, etc.)

Absolutely head-scratching as to why the D.A. thought this was a good place to satisfy public outrage over the Great Recession (politics and racism are hinted at but not fully explored). (I do wish this angle has been pursued in more depth.)

Basic plot: low-level employees are fleecing home buyers into giving them cash fees and then falsifying their loan applications so they get approved by higher-ups, the government decides this is evidence of a systematic conspiracy and tries to go after the bank itself (this despite it having an extremely low default rate, which makes it strange that Fannie Mae is named the defendant in the case because overall it got much more money from this bank proportionally than from thousands of others, particularly the giant ones who not only didn't get prosecuted but actually got bailouts (courtesy of you and me)).

Also shows incredible scenes such as the bank employees shackled together in a chain gang and paraded into the courthouse in front of news cameras (which by all accounts is an unheard-of practice nowadays); the Manhattan D.A. (Cyrus Vance Jr.) and one of his underlings ("Polly Greenberg" iirc) are both masterful in denying any kind of prejudicial motivation in selecting and prosecuting Abacus (the case took five years and cost taxpayers ten million USD and resulted in *zero* convictions).

Anyone need anymore evidence that giant corporations run this country? Anyone?

Abacus: Small Enough to Jail is a suspenseful David v. Goliath documentary of family loyalty and stubborn courage facing a gigantic government agency and an ego to match. As follows: Tom Sung emigrated from China at 16 and became in time a citizen, a successful lawyer and a resident of upscale Connecticut. Nevertheless he noticed that 'establishment' banks were happy to take his deposits, but when it came to getting a loan, he didn't, as the saying went in the hateful days of the racist Exclusion Act, 'have a Chinaman's chance.' Sung then took a chance and started his own bank—Abacus Federal Savings. His timing was perfect: new immigration laws in the 1960s meant Chinatown soon had a] plenty of customers for Abacus and b] something besides Cantonese restaurants. He was a genuine positive force among the Chinese population, admired and respected by all. Then about a decade ago low-ranking Abacus personnel were caught falsifying mortgage applications; they were immediately sacked and their misdeeds reported to feds, as required. Mistake, as it turned out. The subprime- mortgage crisis was big news: until then, few Americans used the word 'trillion' for anything but the national debt or the distance from here to Alpha Centauri. Villains included Citibank, Merrill Lynch, Goldman Sachs, Wells Fargo, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, and while some were fined, no one went to jail and most bonuses were paid as usual. Unfortunately for Abacus, new-minted New York D.A. Cyrus Vance Jr., who was as hungry for publicity as NY's Sen. Charles Schumer, saw a chance for headlines and photo ops. Seeking a halo as the sole public avenger of the crisis, Vance charged Abacus with 80 counts of criminal wrongdoing, launching a court battle that ran five years and cost $10 million. Although the major villains had got off lightly as being 'too big to fail,' Vance's target was indeed 'small enough to jail': in size, Abacus was 2600th among U.S. banks. About the size, as it turned out, of David. This is an excellent documentary, suspenseful but lightened with some bursts of humor among the Sung family as they fight for the reputations and their principles.