Few will dispute the evil avarice behind the $50 billion Ponzi scheme Bernie Madoff masterminded. According to Jeff Prosserman's documentary, the recession of 2008 ultimately exposed the scam, but 10 years earlier, Harry Markopolos (who resides in Whitman, Massachusetts), a Wall Street insider turned independent finance investigator, was already dogging Madoff's trail. Prosserman recounts Markopolos's frustrations and the ineptitude of the SEC. Too bad that Markopolos, who has been labeled a quiet, behind-the-scenes doer, comes off here as a smug, paranoid know-it-all. Prosserman employs a lot of dramatic re-creations and shows some slick style that calls to mind Errol Morris or James Marsh, but when it comes to content, his camera turns didactic and mono-focused. Overall, the film offers little insight into Madoff, his shenanigans, or the financial collapse of 2008.
