We are more than forty months removed from that fateful September in 2008, when some of the worlds most prominent financial institutions, such as Goldman Sachs, Lehman Brothers and Merrill Lynch, all proclaimed to the global marketplace that they were out of money. The consequences of this are still being felt. Unemployment remains tragically high. The housing market is as under water now as it was then. Banks are still hesitant to loan. The financial meltdown of 2008, and the bailout that followed, is still a source of volatile debate and public outrage. Hollywood has noticed. In the time that has lapsed since that period, the film industry has churned out a high number of films that examine the causes of the crisis, the people involved, and the ripple effects that still resonate. To no ones surprise, Michael Moore made one of these films. But his documentary, Capitalism: A Love Story, had its virtues, but paled in comparison to his finest work, and to some of the other films that have been inspired by our tumultuous times. Here is a list of the three best films related to the 2008 financial meltdown.

J.C. Chandors 2011 Margin Call, is not only one of the best films on the subject matter, but also one of the most unique. While most films come down very hard on the bankers and executives of the financial institutions that caused the meltdown, Chandors story, about executives at a Lehman Brothers-esque trying to manage the crisis the night before the public becomes aware of it, paints sympathetic portraits of the men. Chandor doesnt let them off the hook by any means, but he creates characters that arent strictly foaming from the mouth. These are people who know they are going to cause damage, but feel like they have been backed into a corner and are doing the only thing they know how to do. They didnt set out to start a fire, but they provided the match. Chandors ensemble, including Kevin Spacey, Jeremy Irons and Paul Bettany, is outstanding. With Chandors sharp vernacular at their disposal, these performers allow us to see the vulnerabilities of these men, their failures. But they achieve the complex task of rationalizing without justifying.

Charles Fergusons 2010 documentary, Inside Job, is a little less forgiving. This rousing, muckraking film explores the origins of the crisis with a fine toothed comb. Ferguson understands that most general audiences wont understand all of the facets of the crash, mostly because as he discovers, neither did the perpetrators. So he uses wonderfully designed graphics and experts to help understand. His film concludes that the meltdown was due to a generations worth of financial deregulation, the corruption of both political circles and business schools and simply greed run amok. Ferguson demands a vague call to action at the end of this stirring documentary; audience members will find his call hard to resist.