The Big Short is a film based on a non-fiction book "The Big Short: Inside the Doomsday Machine" by Michael Lewis in 2010. The film tells the story which led to the 2007-2008 financial crisis and housing bubbles. The film may be too dry for people without a background in finance. Yet, the director perfectly added some pop culture explanations about finance and humor between the characters in the film to grab the viewer's attention. It helps the world understand the economic collapse of Wall Street in New York, the collapse of the financial market and its impact on a global scale. Not only that, but the film also focuses on certain investors who predict in advance that the mortgage securities market will crash and collapse. In the film there are three different stories, all linked together because of the housing bubble. These characters knew the stock market crash was imminent, decided to use that knowledge to profit, and bet short against the “ever stable” mortgage market. This article will examine some of these people and how they contributed to the worst financial crisis in history. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on “Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned”? Get an original essay Early in the film, the first character to discover the potential crash of the financial market is Michael Burry, played by Christian Bale. In the film, he is a socially inept hedge fund CEO. Early on, even though no one trusted him, he recognized and believed that the real estate market was unstable. The main reason is that they rely on high-risk subprime loans, which offer fewer and fewer returns. No one selling them seems to understand this concept because they are too busy making money and believe the market is unbreakable. So, he created a credit default swap (CDS), which is a short-selling investment strategy, and allowed him to bet against the US mortgage market to make a profit. He invested more than $1 billion in CDS, attracting the attention of other securities dealers and the confusion and fear of his investors. Over time, while waiting for the market to crash, he lost a lot of money and his investors grew impatient. Later, investors turned their backs on him with threats and legal action against him. Michael Burry's market prediction was correct, but his timing was wrong. He predicted it so far in advance that he had to hold on and potentially end up with a significant loss. Eventually, he managed to hold on long enough to complete the transactions and clear his name, but it left him with a deep scar. Another character who affected and played a significant role in the financial crisis is Mark Baum, played by Steve Carell. He is a fund manager who recently experienced a family tragedy. He hears about the potential crisis, but isn't entirely sure of its scale. Unlike Michael Burry, Mark Baum doesn't dive into spreadsheets to find his answer; he is more interested in the real world. His team took to the streets and witnessed the housing bubble. They saw an alarming problem with many late payments and seizures from uninformed people. They all expect house prices to continue to rise. Only after a conversation with the bankers, who indifferently reveal all the potential risks, does Mark Baum finally conclude that the risk is much greater than he ever imagined. This is not.