Abacus: Small Enough to Jail (2016)

This is a very interesting documentary about a community I care deeply about. It's in traditional documentary style; it was distributed by PBS Frontline after all. Abacus Bank in Chinatown, NY was the lone bank prosecuted following the 2008 Financial Crisis. And Ken Yu, a former loan officer at Abacus, was the lone person imprisoned. The rest of Abacus was exonerated. The crisis was obviously brought about by the failure of the major banks to care that they were endangering the world economy-yet no one has been imprisoned. The idea that little Abacus had an important enough role to really play any part in the take down of the world economy is laughably implausible. But Abacus was important enough to have an impact in Chinatown. It serves the Chinese community that typically cannot qualify for traditional credit. The bank is run by a successful and articulate Chinese-American family that makes for a good documentary subject.