Jim Doyle, David Wenham, and his Japanese partner have invented an intricate computer programme he calls Bank Training Simulation Experiment - BTSE for short - which is designed to predict fluctuations on the financial market. Doyle is able to sell his programme to Simon O`Reily, Anthony La Paglia, the vauntingly greedy CEO of Centabank. Formerly known as the Central Bank of Victoria, Centabank has now embarked on a policy of branch closures and pressuring borrowers as the shareholders demand even greater profits. Among the victims of this policy are a couple of battlers, Wayne and Diane Davis, Steve Rodgers and Mandy McElhinney, who had borrowed from the bank to finance a houseboat leasing operation. The bank`s foreclosure not only robs them of their livelihood but also brings about a tragedy - and they take legal action ...
Writer Robert Connolly`s first film as director (he shouldn`t be confused with documentary filmmaker Bob Connolly) is a well timed drama which taps into the understandable public concern about banking policies and how corporate greed is affecting society's battlers.
The film opens with a sequence set in rural Victoria in the 70s when a friendly bank manager visits a primary school to start the kids saving - but most of the narrative depicts a far, far uglier side to the banking industry.
Anthony LaPaglia gives a fine, witty performance as the poisonous bank chief, while David Wenham`s ambiguous character always intrigues until his motives become clear. A romantic sub-plot involving Sibylla Budd is one of the weaker elements in the film, but Steve Rodgers and Mandy McElhinney effectively state the case for the average Australian while Mitchell Butel is good as a risk taking lawyer.
