The film industry did not offer a very rosy view of the business world in 2021. Dominated by streaming giants and independent studios, the year in movies had a wealth of poignant stories about financial distress in a range of cultures and locations. Inspirational and tragic, each film has a lesson for entrepreneurs.
Silk Road
This high-octane thriller tells the true story of how Ross Ulbricht created his infamous dark web-based “Amazon-for-drugs,” which amassed more than $1 billion in sales before being taken down by the DEA.
- An instructive parable about the dangers of unfettered e-commerce.
Black Friday
The horror-comedy film pits an unmotivated team of toy store employees against a horde of bloodthirsty, parasite-infected shoppers on Black Friday.
- It’s a gory-but apt–satire of what life is like on the front lines of the retail industry during the Covid pandemic.
WeWork
WeWork: Or the Making and Breaking of a $47 Billion Unicorn
- An epic documentary about how WeWork’s frathouse-like office culture, unrealistic expectations, and cartoonish overspending caused the co-working business’s IPO and its utopian vision to unravel in just six weeks.
Hive
This Albanian-language darling of the Sundance film festival tells the story of a widow in Kosovo starting a business selling honey and ajvar (a traditional relish made from red bell peppers) to provide for her two children, in the face of overwhelming grief and a repressive patriarchal society.
CODA
Ruby, a Child Of Deaf Adults (CODA), spends every morning before school working on the family’s struggling commercial fishing boat in Gloucester, Massachusetts.
Dear Rider
The late Jake Burton Carpenter pulled together sponsors, ski resorts, and major athletes to create snowboarding.
- By tenaciously pulling together snowboarders, sponsors, and athletes, Carpenter launched his business–and ultimately, snowboarding–to become a worldwide phenomenon.
The Gig Is Up
Told through the lives of people working for Uber, Deliveroo, and other companies, the documentary offers an alternative view of the much-hyped transformation of the global workforce.
- Where to see it: Google, Amazon, and Apple TV+
El Buen Patrón (The Good Boss)
The story of the owner of an industrial scales manufacturing business who works tirelessly to pacify his disaffected staff before a visit from an awards committee.
