‘Gold‘, the 2016 film by director Steven Gaghan, has as its main character a kind of American anti-hero. The character is derived from the stories of social and economic ascents (‘rags to riches’) that embody the American dream in cinematography. The ultra-liberal capitalism of the late 20th and early 21st centuries, however, also generated several cases of rapid ascents followed by equally rapid and spectacular falls of fraudulent businesses that took advantage of fierce competition and of the lack of rules and controls in certain sectors of industry, commerce or finance to make and break huge fortunes overnight. The heroes or anti-heroes of these stories have paid huge personal costs and left behind them many victims, people who lost their life savings, families destroyed and pushed below the poverty line. ‘Gold‘ brings to the screen such a story, based on a real case, one that happened in … Canada.
Kenny Wells comes from a dynasty of prospectors. He inherits Washoe Mining, the company established generations ago, but a few years after the death of his father the firm is in total ruin. Following a piece of information in a dream (yes, indeed!) he decides to invest the last of his money to travel to Indonesia and reconnect with an old acquaintance, geologist Michael Acosta, and convince him to start looking for a gold vein in the mountains and the jungles of the archipelago. After quite a few adventures, the two seem to have found their dream El Dorado. Kenny returns to America where he not only rebuilds the company but becomes a real star in the world of prospecting and finance, launching his company on the stock market. The business is valued in hundreds of millions or even billions of dollars. But politics and the harsh laws of finance are no easier to control than geological prospecting. Spectacular falls and comebacks will follow in the company’s activity and in the character’s personal life, faced with rapid success and abysmal catastrophes.
Kenny Wells is played by Matthew McConaughey, an extremely talented and versatile actor who fits the prospector’s role wonderfully. His character is obsessed with the profession, but above all with the continuation of the family tradition. He lives his adventure as a rollercoaster experience in which he is now on the heights of success and can soon crash, oscillating between being a hero of capitalism and then a fraud suspect, responsible for the ruin of thousands, only to return permanently. Edgar Ramírez is also a revelation as the geologist friend, whose dark gaze hides shadows and secrets. I also liked the way Bryce Dallas Howard approached the role of Kenny’s girlfriend, the one who offers him support at the beginning of the journey and in difficult moments, even if their relationship is not immune to extreme crises. The sequences that take place in Indonesia are excellently shot and visually spectacular. The contrast between the extreme poverty and dangers of the Third World and the luxurious interiors of trade and finance built from the exploitation of its resources needs no explicit comment. The ending can also be discussed, but I won’t do this for obvious reasons. ‘Gold‘ is the biography of an anti-hero of a world in crisis. Worth watching.