1929

Thursday, October 24: the Wall Street Stock Exchange crashes, the greatest economic crisis of the 20^th century suddenly breaks out. Fuelled by frenetic speculation, and by the idea that everyone can get rich without limits, it puts a final stop to the euphoria of the 1920s. America is then caught in a devastating cycle which spreads around the world a few months later like a malign infection. Calling on renowned historians and economists, such as Joseph Stiglitz (Nobel Prize for Economics), Daniel Cohen or Howard Zinn, William Karel conducts an incredibly detailed analysis of the economic and financial mechanisms that lead to the crash of Wall Street and then to the Great Depression of the 1930's.

Through moving pictures, for the most part unseen before, this documentary shows the tragic distress of America doubting its founding values, the suffering of a ravaged society: suicide of brokers, thousands of homeless in the streets of New York City, mass unemployment, strikes, political extremism...

It reveals how the world's leading economy sinks into mass depression, allowing Hitler to rise to power, and how eventually Franklin D. Roosevelt brings hope and optimism back into the hearts of his people.