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Casino
Jack
Interviewed: Jack Abramoff, Tom DeLay, Bob Ney, Ralph Reed, Michael Scanlon, Neil Volz, Tom Rodgers, Nina Easton, Susan Schmidt, George Miller and Thomas Frank Director/Scriptwriter: Alex Gibney Documentary Magnolia Pictures No Rating but there is profanity Running Length: 123 minutes Just when you thought Alex Gibney's documentary Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room covered a lot of territory, here comes Casino Jack, about Jack Abramoff, who figured out how to use lobbying power to rise to the top. The amount of money that passes through his hands is enormous. Filmmaker Gibney does it again and finds a pathway through the money maze so you see what happened and all the while, the word “greed” is really in the background. According to this film, Jack Abramoff became an Orthodox Jew after watching Fiddler on the Roof. He became friends with young republicans like Karl Rove, J. Michael Walter, Ralph Reed, and Neil Volz. Eventually, Abramoff decided to make an action film about the idealistic hero who protects people and thus “Red Scorpion” with Dolph Lundgren came about. Tom DeLay started out in the exterminator business and became frustrated when he wasn’t allowed to use DDT. Supposedly, because of James Dobson, DeLay came to believe in Christ. DeLay and Abramoff became partners and formed a corporation in the Mariana Islands, producing goods for export and using inexpensive labor. Saipan hired Jack to use his influence in Washington, but eventually all of this fell through and now Saipan has deserted warehouses. Then came another money-making idea concerning the 1988 law that gave Indian tribes the right to have casinos. Eventually, there was disagreement between some tribes and this is where Abramoff came in, once again, using his influence in Washington, with the tribes paying for this privilege. Notably was the Tigua Tribe of Texas. Something just wasn’t right here and soon information was being leaked to a reporter named Shawn Martin. An investigation began and the scheme started to fall apart, partly because of the paper trail. The men involved communicated through e-mail. Several people are interviewed on camera and among them are Neil Volz, Tom Rodgers and Susan Schmidt. You see what a tangled web this was and the enormous amount of money that is taken in by a gambling casino. According to the film, it can be $60,000,000 yearly. The documentary goes on a bit long, but still it is intriguing to see what can go on behind closed doors, how currying for political favor is commonplace and that people don’t seem to realize that they will eventually be caught. It is a lesson for all of us in checking out the people we vote into office and not to take anyone’s word for anything. If it is too good to be true, walk away. Copyright 2010 Marie Asner
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