Netflix's Dirty Money shines a light in dark corners
The Netflix documentary series Dirty Money is an exercise in frustration. There are six episodes, each one detailing a separate example of corruption from around the world. We all have a sense that the world is unfair, that it’s stacked in favor of the wealthy and is likely to remain so. We handle it the way we handle most unsavory things—we ignore them.
We deal the problems we have control over. The crack in the windshield. The spider in the bath. The leak in the sink. But the bigger problems, like racism, like fraud, like graft, we avoid. We forget. We’re content that someone else is in control of it.
The ignorance of ordinary people is exactly how these things become systemic. When we close our eyes to the bigger picture, the bigger picture doesn’t vanish. It becomes bigger.
Dirty Money forces open the eyes of the viewer and explains, in simple, uncompromising terms, just how dirty the world is and just how angry everyone should be.
That they aren’t is a problem the series will rectify for anyone that watches. Anger is a by-product of every episode, as is shock and horror. There’s no call to action needed. These things happen and they shouldn’t. That message is simple enough.
The series is wide ranging, covering everything from Volkswagen to maple syrup to Donald Trump. The Volkswagen episode should hit home here, in particular. The episode focuses on the 2015 Clean Diesel scandal that should have been a bigger deal than it was.
For those that don’t remember, Volkswagen was outed for lying to consumers about the emissions of millions of cars sold worldwide. In an effort to bring diesel engines to the U.S., where environmental regulations were stricter regarding nitrous oxide than in Europe, the company introduced their Clean Diesel engine, which supposedly dramatically reduced nitrous emissions and met regulations.
Except, it wasn’t true.
Volkswagen equipped their cars with a defeat device in the form of software that allowed the cars to pass tests in the controlled conditions of the lab.
It didn’t work in road tests, however. When Volkswagen was exposed, it was revealed that not only did the company know about the device, they ordered it. However, the documentary goes further. The problem is not just with Volkswagen—most European car companies employ defeat devices in Europe, as they are legal provided they’re necessary to maintain the integrity of the engine, a regulation that is maintained by the EU and goes continuously unchallenged.
As a result, noxious oxide levels are significantly higher than previously understood, exposing millions of people to dangerous emissions that are a key component in smog and acid rain. Volkswagen simply made the mistake of attempting to bring it in U.S. markets—they’d be much more successful if they tried it now.
Each episode of the docuseries has an enormous amount of information to unpack. Produced and occasionally directed by Going Clear documentarian Alex Gibney, Dirty Money is carefully and delicately told.
Consider the second episode, which focuses on the payday loan business. Rather than outlining the various laws and focusing on those affected by this corrupt industry, Dirty Money chooses to tell it through the eyes of Scott Tucker, the man behind one of the most notorious scams in the industry.
Tucker was caught, along with his lawyer, skirting state laws by funneling money through companies founded by Native American tribes. But to hear him tell it, Tucker is the victim (the story begins with the confiscation of his many expensive racing vehicles). The episode allows Tucker to tell his story and shows the viewer to decide where the suffering lies.
But at the heart of every story lies the root of all evil. Valeant, HSBC, and Donald Trump all love money more than anything else. All are willing to exploit others to for their own personal gain. Save Scott Tucker, most of those responsible for enormous corruption receive no consequences for their actions.
When this much money is involved, consequences can be as damaging as the behavior. And so the series leaves audiences wondering what can be done. There are no answers to be found. Maybe the only thing we can do is be aware. Being angry might help some too.