Right now in America we are having an election. And all of the candidates [particularly the Democrats] will bitch and moan about how America has shafted “the people”. Usually by spouting the same tired rhetoric about the rich getting richer and the poor losing their jobs to corporations that set up business in one or another Third World [or Second World] hell hole.
And if only we elect Trump or Clinton or Sanders all of that will change. The government will finally be there for all equitably. Right. Then the fuckers who get elected take office and almost nothing changes. Then four years later it starts up all over again.
It would be interesting to sit down with Trump and Clinton [the probable candidates] and watch this film. And then measure the gap between their campaign trail reaction and their actual performance in the White House.
That enormous gap between the fairy tales that the candidates spin on the campaign trail and the reality of what they actually perpetuate and sustain once they get into office. That’s what is exposed here. Only it is never really encompassed systemically by exposing the manner in which crony capitalism functions to perpetuate and sustain it. There you have to read between the lines. But few are politically sophisticated enough to actually accomplish this.
The film opens with a dead man in a bathroom. He committed suicide. He committed suicide because the “charismatic and ruthless businessman” Rick Carver just took away his family’s home. You know, for the bank.
The cops and courts of course are just along for the ride. They’re just “doing their jobs” in upholding the law. The laws that are bought and paid for in Washington and in state capitals throughout the nation by the folks from Wall Street. In other words, the folks from the banks that most profit from all this never have to deal with the pain and the suffering that they cause. They have other working stiffs to do that for them.
But: Don’t forget to vote!
And at the other end, Dennis has marketable skills in construction. But the economy isn’t able to provide any jobs. It’s smack dab in the middle of the Great Recession. So he decides that if you can’t beat them, join them.
And there’s Donald Trump crisscrossing the nation with hoards of white working class dolts rallying behind him because they hate the browns and the blacks for taking their America away from them.
Or as Mr. Lennon once intimated: Keep them doped with religion and sex and TV/And they think they’re so clever and classless and free/But they’re still fucking peasants as far as I can see
Again, this is one of those films where you ask yourself 1] What would I do? and 2] What’s the right thing to do?
After all, this is basically about a man who embodies the point that I make regarding the narcissistic personality. For him, right and wrong revolves entirely around “what’s in it for me?” And the moral objectivists can yammer on and on and on about how such behavior is simply wrong, and he could not possibly care less.
IMDb
[b]The film is based on a real life father who exposed a corrupted real estate agent.
In the beginning of the film Dennis and Frank’s little boys comment on how Australia looks like the USA upside down. A large theme of the film is reverse. The reversal of Dennis’s role from evicted to evictee, and also on how the American moral system is completely upside down. [/b]
at wiki: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/99_Homes
trailer: youtu.be/GHprbOv1W9I
99 HOMES [2014]
Written in part and directed by Ramin Bahrani
[b]Rick [on the phone]: Well, I’ll tell you what you do. Remove the meter, turn the water off, and let them sweat for a couple of days. Then you ride in on your white fucking horse, tell them you have a cash buyer and Richard Carver can approve a short sale. You want me to spell it for you? R-I-C… OK, well, I can’t hold your hand while you give them a hand job, Bill. Just get me the property.
…
Police officer: You’re the bank’s realtor on this eviction. I need an official statement. What happened and why?
Rick: Well, Dudura, it’s a real shame because we arrived here with two pizzas for Mr Kadwell, the property owner, but he didn’t want anchovies, so he went into the house, pulled out a gun and he blew his brains out. And that set off Mrs Kadwell who was expecting Chinese for dinner. You’re talking about a man who just killed himself. I am the last man who knocked on Patrick Kadwell’s door, in his life. That is his wife of 15 years, Samantha, his daughters, Dylan, six, Paige, 11. What official statement can encapsulate the tragic absurdity of this fucked-up situation? I can’t bring him back to life. Stop wasting my time.
…
Cop: Have we got anything else, boss?
Rick: Next eviction’s Tuesday. Natalia will call you.
Cop: Roger that.
…
Bank attorney: Your Honour, he missed three payments and is underwater over 80 grand. The bank can have a buyer in place within 30 days.
Judge: Did you in fact miss three payments?
Dennis: Yes, sir, but I was told to. Two departments at the same bank were telling me opposing things and then, just recently, I got a final notice for eviction.
Bank attorney: We’d like to get this property off the market.
Judge: I see no reason to hold up the sale.
Dennis: But they told me not to pay. And that’s why I’m behind. They told me not to pay.
Judge: While I sympathize with your situation I have 40,000 cases like this backed up behind yours. Final judgment granted. I’m ordering you to vacate the premises.
Dennis: That’s my family home, Your Honour. I was born and raised in that home. He was born and raised there too. He’s my son, Connor. Please don’t do this. We’ve lived there our whole lives. My mum runs her business out of that home. That’s our second source of income right now.
Judge: Is this your son?
Dennis: That’s my son.
Judge: He should be in school and not here.
Dennis: He’s gonna lose his school, with all due respect. If we lose our home.[/b]
The judge just moves on to the next case…
[b]Sheriff: I’m Deputy Anderson with the Sheriff’s department. We’re here to serve you a court-ordered eviction.
Dennis: OK, well…
Sheriff: So, do you have any weapons on your body or anywhere in the house?
Lynn [Dennis’s mother]: No, no, no, no. Not us.
Rick: Good morning. My name’s Rick Carver. I’m a licensed real estate broker. And, er, I’m very sorry to tell you that this home has been foreclosed on and officially transferred to the bank. I need you to vacate the premises.
…
Rick: What I’ve received is a court order signed by a judge. It says you are to vacate these premises today.
Dennis: We were scared of this.
Rick: This home is owned by the bank. My office offered you a $3,500 cash-or-keys settlement from the bank which would have given you time to vacate the premises and you refused.
Dennis: Yes, sir.
Lynn: We didn’t refuse. We tried to save our home.
Dennis: We were trying to save it.
Rick: This is a very painful time, I know. It’s a difficult thing to carry through on, but the time has come. You have to leave your property. You are trespassing right now. You are breaking the law.
Lynn: Sir, this is our home so we just need a few minutes.
Rick: We’re going in circles here so I’ll let the sheriffs take care of it.
…
Sheriff [to Dennis]: Listen to me. There are two ways that we can do this. Right? An easy way which is you do what you’re told when asked. The other way is that I take you and your mum to jail.
…
Dennis: Hey, what about the rest of our stuff?
Rick: They’re gonna bring everything out. There’s no need to worry…Now, my advice would be to get a moving truck because your neighbors are gonna have access to everything you own by the end of the day
…
Connor [getting off the school bus]: What are they doing?
Dennis: Nothing.
Connor: This is our house. This is our house.
Dennis; It’s OK.
Sheriff: Son, where are you heading?
Connor: Get off me! his is our house.
Rick: It’s a very difficult situation. Please take your son off the property.
Dennis: What do you think I’m doing?
Connor: Those are my toys.
Lynn: It’s OK. It’s OK. It’s OK, sweetie.
…
Connor: I just wanna go to my room. Please.
Dennis: You can’t go to your room right now.
Connor: You said we weren’t gonna lose our house. You lied to me.
Lynn: Sweetie, he didn’t lie. He didn’t know.
…
Lynn: Dennis, this motel is half full of people like us.
Dennis: They’re not people like us.
Lynn: They’re all evicted and they get stuck here. I could maybe take the bus and start looking for apartments.
Dennis: We can’t afford it.
Lynn: It’s just first and last month’s.
Dennis: Plus two or three months’ security. Four maybe, cos of our credit. Our credit’s shot.
Lynn: Dennis, we’ve got to get out of here.
…
Scrawled on the wall [in shit] of a home that a bank foreclosed on: KILL BANKERS
…
Dennis [to the work crew]: Alright, let’s do it. Let’s get this shit done.
…
Rick [answering the phone]: This is Richard Carver.
Man [enraged]: Adjustable rate mortgage, cocksucker! I’m homeless, you motherfucker!
Rick: Stop calling me, you freak.
Man: I’m gonna call you every goddamn day to remind you what a piece of shit you are!!
…
Rick [driving down a street]: What do you see out there?
Dennis: I see homes.
Rick: I just saw nine opportunities to make money in the last five blocks. Three properties without mailboxes and one with an overgrown lawn and no car in the drive, two with white signs in the windows and three with shiny new doorknobs. If you can get attuned to seeing those kinds of opportunities, you can get up off your hands and knees and really start working for me.
Dennis: I can work. You’ve seen me all week.
Rick: Yeah, I know you worked for good crews with Rick Kirby, Chris Camilleri, right? But the unfortunate thing is, they’re out of business. Because they build homes. I own homes. You know what I am? I’m a man who owns a hell of a lot of properties. You can be a part of that, but it’s a hell of a responsibility. What I need to know is that I have someone who can handle any situation I want to walk away from, 24/7. I don’t care if your kid’s in the school play, it’s Christmas, you lined up the best damn blowjob in Orlando, when you work for me, you’re mine.
…
Rick [to Dennis holding up a gun]: You know how to shoot, right? I’ll run a background check so you can carry a concealed weapon. Go on take it.
Dennis: Are you fucking with me?
Rick: Surly homeowners. You’re gonna need it.
…
Rick [to Dennis after fucking over another family about to lose their home]: Don’t be soft. They all got a sob story. But the law’s the law. That’s the side you’re on. You should be smart enough to know the outcome of this situation. So toughen up. I’m evicting a hedge-fund manager out of here in two weeks. Keep your mouth shut and your eyes open and maybe you’ll learn something this time.
…
Rick: I’m selling this home for Fannie Mae. I can’t do that if it doesn’t have a kitchen, can I?
Dennis: No.
Rick: So, who just paid me $33,000 for new cabinets, appliances and a counter top plus labor?
Dennis: Fannie Mae.
Rick: Fannie Mae. Congratulations. You just fucked the government.
…
Rick [handing Dennis ab envelope]: Mr. Nash?
Dennis: Yeah.
Rick: If you’re interested, let me know. If not, you can use this to take your kid to Disney World and get yourself a job Migueling Cinderella’s castle.
[Rick opens the envelope – it’s a check for $3,200][/b]
To make a deal with the devil or not…
[b]Dennis: I don’t give a shit about the government. They ain’t never done nothing for me, so…that’s a lot of money you just gave me. Feels a bit like trouble.
Rick: You done honest work your whole life building homes. What did that get you but me knocking at your door?
Dennis: Are we stealing? Is this stealing?
Rick: Well, in 2006 you borrowed $85,000 against your home and never paid it back, Nash. Are you telling me that’s not stealing?
Dennis: What? Are you serious? That’s not stealing, that’s me taking a loan. That’s me working my arse off to pay back that loan. I wanted to pay it back. I didn’t steal.
Rick: That’s not how the banks see it or the taxpayers paying for the bail-out.
Dennis: You think I bought a Porsche? No. I invested every cent I borrowed into construction equipment so that I could pay back that loan and put a roof over my family’s head, put food in my kid’s mouth. The economy crashed. I can’t predict that. I can’t predict the weather.
Rick: I can. I’m a Doppler fucking radar. You took something you didn’t give back. The bank screwed you over. Take your pick. Either way you lost. But I made more money during the crash than before it. You can too, you just gotta stop lying to yourself and ask, “what did you do wrong that your family lives in a motel?”
…
Friend: So who’s this Rick Carver dude?
Dennis: That’s my boss. For the time being.
Friend: What’s that like?
Dennis: Oh, it’s great. He’s…he’s a fucking asshole.
[they remove a central air conditioning unit]
Friend: What are you doing?
Dennis: Got to take a picture. To prove to the bank this shit’s missing so they pay us to put it back in.
Friend: We’re stealing it to then bring it back?
Dennis: You wanna get paid?
Friend: Hell, yeah.
Dennis: Then I got to take a picture.[/b]
Then a sequence of scenes where Dennis [working for Rick] has to inform distraught homeowners that they will be losing their home. Their pain now becomes his gain. Just like Rick.
[b]Dennis [after a homeowner pulled a gun on him]: Hey, Rick.
Rick: What?
Dennis: You still got that Ruger?
Rick: Excuse me? What did you say? Are you saying you want the gun?
[Rick hands him the gun]
Rick: I ran the background check already. You’re clear to carry it.
…
Rick [driving a golf cart]: What do you got for me?
Dennis: Successfully negotiated six cash-for-keys with six tenants.
Rick: Good. So, Nash, how much did you tell your buddies per home? 3500 or less?
Dennis: Yeah, 3500.
Rick: Oh, you told them the full amount?
Dennis: I told 'em what I told 'em. What do you care?
Rick [chuckling]: Yeah.
…
Rick: Drink?
Dennis: No, I’m good, I’m good. High on life.
Rick: Well, you might wanna reconsider. We got one more stop. 224 Lake View Court.
Dennis: Is that Mr Tanner? I offered him a cash-for-keys from the bank.
Rick: Guess what? He never called. And his eviction’s today. You can pop your cherry with this one. First one’s a bitch, but you get numb to it. All you gotta do is stand next to me today, but after this you’re gonna do 'em on your own.
Dennis: Listen, Rick, I don’t…Could I…Could I just…
Rick: Go fuck yourself? Yeah. What did you think it was gonna mean, working for me?
Dennis: I just thought that maybe…
Rick: No, you didn’t. You didn’t think. You didn’t have the guts to ask me either. Nobody does. Because who in their right mind wouldn’t rather put someone in a home than drag 'em out of it? Up until three years ago I was a regular old real-estate agent. Putting people in homes, speculating on property, that was my job. Now, in 2006 Robert and Julia Tanner borrowed $30,000 to put an enclosed patio on their home that they had somehow managed to live without for 25 years. Why don’t you ask them about that when they’re spitting in your face while you walk 'em to the curb? Why don’t you ask the bank what they were thinking giving them an adjustable-rate mortgage? Then you can go to the government and ask why they lifted every regulation and sat there like a retarded stepchild. You, Tanner, the banks, Washington, every other homeowner and investor from here to China turned my life into evictions. I’m not an aristocrat. I wasn’t born into this. My daddy was a roofer, OK? I grew up on construction sites watching him bust his ass until he fell off of a townhouse one day. A lifetime of insurance payments and they dropped him before he could buy a wheelchair, but only after they got him hooked on painkillers. Do you think I’m gonna let that happen to me? Do you think America 2010 gives a flying rat’s ass about Carver? Or Nash? Uh-uh. America doesn’t bail out the losers. America was built by bailing out winners, by rigging a nation of the winners for the winners by the winners. You go to church, Nash? You go to church?
Dennis: Sure.
Rick: Only one in 100 is gonna get on that ark, son. And every other poor soul’s gonna drown. I’m not gonna drown.
…
Dennis [about evicting Tanner]: I wanna do it alone. I’ve seen you do it. I know how it’s done. I’ll do it alone.
Rick: Help yourself.[/b]
And so he does. It’s brutal. Really brutal.
[b]Dennis: Mr Tanner, I’m gonna have to ask you to move to the curb.
Mr. Tanner [in a daze]: What?
Dennis: I know, I know. I’m sorry. Real sorry. If I can help you with anything…I’m sorry. I didn’t wanna do this today. I tried to avoid this.
Mrs Tanner [holding her baby]: How do you live with yourself? You make me sick.
…
Dennis: Hey, Frank.
Frank [indicating the bank men pulling away]: What do you want? Are you with those guys? Dennis: No, no, not at all. Er, I’ve just come to see how you’re doing. And, um, if you want, I think I can get you a job.
Frank: That’s a nice shirt. You still working with your friend?
Dennis: I didn’t have to come over here. I just wanted to, um…
Frank: To what? To lie to me, to cheat me?
Dennis: No, to help you if you wanted it. Have you figured out where your kids are gonna stay when you lose your home?
Frank: My kids have a home. This is their home. I did research, gave boxes of files to a lawyer pro bono. We’re gonna win, legally, in court.
Dennis: It’s not gonna make any difference. I’ve been there, Frank. I’ve been there. You gotta be realistic.
Frank: I’m being realistic. I didn’t ask for your help, sir, and I don’t want it. Please leave. Please get off my property. You’re trespassing.
…
Man: Hey! Hey, where are you going? Hey, you! Over here. I’m talking to you.
Dennis: You’re talking to me?
Man: What are you doing here? Are you following me?
Dennis: No, I live here. I don’t know what you’re talking about.
Man: Yeah, I know who you are. No, you’re Rick Carver Realty. I know exactly who you are. You kicked me out of my home.
Dennis: What? I don’t know you, bud. Come over here and we’ll talk.
Man: Why would I walk over here? Nash. That’s your name, isn’t it? You don’t want everybody else to hear about it, what a fucking asshole you are and how you kicked me and my entire family out of our home?
Dennis: You got me mixed up with someone.
Man: No, I don’t. I know exactly who you are. Oh, you know it was you. And here everybody else is gonna know.
Dennis: Just calm down.
Man: You kicked me out of my home. You ruined my fucking life. No, you don’t get to go anywhere.
…
Lynn: Are you evicting people?
Dennis: Mom!
Lynn [shouting angrily]: He said you were at his eviction!!
…
Dennis: Did anyone ever come up to you after an eviction?
Rick: Yeah, someone tried to run me off the road last year. I haven’t gone out to dinner once with my wife and girls in the last three years without looking over my shoulder. That’s why I carry the gun. Even now at 5am.
Dennis: Is it worth it?
Rick: As opposed to what? Did somebody get to you? Don’t bullshit me. Someone’s calling you. Or they tried to find you. What do you think?
Dennis: Huh. Think about what?
Rick: Well, you wanted to kill me once. Now you’re gonna make a lot of money.
Dennis: I did want to kill you.
…
Rick: Like I said, don’t get emotional about real estate, Nash. They’re boxes. You listening? Big boxes, small boxes. What matters is how many you got. You’re gonna have more properties than women to fill them with. You know that, right? You love your mum, you love your kid. Buy 'em a house. Buy one for your mum. Buy one for your kid.
Buy one for yourself.
…
Dennis: I bought this for you. And you. That’s your pool. This is your house.
Lynn Let’s go home. This isn’t funny.
Dennis: I’m not joking, Mom.
Lynn: That’s not his basketball net. This is somebody else’s and I want our house. I wanna go home.
Dennis: We don’t have that home anymore. I sold it. I sold our old home and I bought this. Fresh start. I don’t wanna go back to that house we were evicted from.
Lynn: You sold our house?
Dennis: We couldn’t move into our old home for two to three weeks so I had to get us out of that motel so that Connor wouldn’t get killed.
Lynn: By kicking people out? By kicking people out of their houses? You buy this?
…
Dennis: This is forged?
Rick: It’s a stupid piece of paper someone forgot to file when the loan was being bought and sold a million times over. It’s just a technicality.
Dennis: It’s Frank Greene.
Rick: Yeah. Same deadbeat stealing my water and power. I told you he was no good. Hey, that’s not your dick in your hand, son. That is the Santa Fe deal. 100 homes, 1,000 more for Freeman. Our money, Miami. Your home, everything. Got me?
Dennis: Mm-hm, yeah, I do.
Rick: Don’t “mm-hm, yeah, I do” me. Courthouse plaza, 9:45am.
…
Rick [to Dennis]: Morning, Donald Trump. I’m outside your new mansion. Frank Greene’s eviction. Let’s go. There’s eight other homeowners we got to evict after Greene. I’ll start out nice with an aggressive cash-for-keys. I’ll pay out of my own pocket if I have to. I don’t give a shit. But if they give me any flak, Freeman’s boys and the court clerk, baby. No big deal.
…
Sheriff: Sir, why don’t you send your wife and kids out? Send your wife and kids out. Sir, drop your weapon.
Frank [from inside the house with a rifle]: The court decided my case in 60 seconds flat. Nobody checked the file index. Fact. No proof of publication filed. Fact. Nobody looked at the cancelled checks to prove bank payment. Fact. The judge, he wasn’t up for re election. He wasn’t beholden to anybody in this county. 60 seconds for a lifetime and this is my home.
…
Frnak: Look up there. Look up there! You see that? That is the sun and it is shining. Nobody is gonna tell me it is night when it is day. And God Almighty could come down here and tell me it’s night and I would know that it’s day, because I know what I know. And nobody is gonna tell me the sun isn’t shining. Nobody.
Dennis: I cheated you. I put a forged document in your file on the day of your court hearing, Frank. This is your home.[/b]
The look on Rick’s face? Priceless.