“Live Another Day” Is the Auto Bailout Documentary Version of “The Big Short”

By Tony Markovich - September 15, 2016

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One of the more surprisingly good films of the past year was The Big Short. That’s the one about the housing market crash that stars Christian Bale, Brad Pit, Steve Carrell, and Ryan Gosling as people in the financial industry in the early ’00s. They decide to take on the big banks, and it does a good job of showing them sorting through the madness, while instilling a bit of comedy too (it’s on Netflix, if you’re interested). And now, almost a year later, we get another story of a different financial battle from the exact same market crash, this time dealing with the automotive sector.

Based on the Pulitzer Prize-winning book Crash Course, the documentary Live Another Day: The Inside Story of the 2008 Auto Bailout explores the ins and outs of what really went down behind the scenes among The Big Three automakers, the government and Barack Obama, and the unions. Trust me, there is nothing cut and dry about any of it.

Judging by the dramatic trailer below, there’s a whole lot of slop and deceit as far as worker benefits, featherbedding, bankruptcy law, the Automotive Task Force, etc. There was a lot of ignorance, a lot of lying, and a lot of refusal to accept responsibility, and it all came tumbling down. For now, the bailouts appear to be working, and I’m not going to pretend to know the exhaustive background of how, but there are plenty of analysts who say that it’s a temporary fix. This documentary, at the least, will give everybody a better idea of how everything works and what actually went down between all of these massive decision-makers.

The doc comes out this Friday, September 16. Will you be watching?