Bank of Dave: The feel-good David v. Goliath story

There are some characters who just make for easy villains in a movie. Bank of Dave capitalises on the stereotype to dial up the tension.

Bank of Dave is in cinemas now. Picture: The Reset Collective

It’s a truth universally acknowledged that everyone hates bankers. And in the aftermath of the GFC, everyone really, really hated bankers.

The stereotype of the sneering, elitist fat-cat looking down from their glass-walled offices high atop from street level, playing with everyone’s money while withholding it from those who actually need it, makes for an easy villain.

Lose hundreds of billions of dollars through greed and speculation and send the global economy into a spiral without facing any proper consequences or reform? It’s enough to make you seething mad, and yet also overcome with a feeling of defeat as the establishment proves that real change is elusive.

And when there’s a growing chasm between the haves-and-have-nots, the David v. Goliath story of Bank of Dave speaks to the current moment.

Bank of Dave is a rousing and engaging movie starring Joel Fry and Rory Kinnear, and based on the true story of a plucky small businessman who had the gall to set up a community savings and loan based on the ethos of fairness.

Bank of Dave is based on a true story. Picture: The Reset Collective

The way the movie capitalises on the inherent inequality of the system makes it very easy to get behind its perspective.

In the film, Dave Fishwick (Kinnear) is a successful self-made millionaire who leveraged his own dealership business to lend money to customers in the town of Burnley, when traditional institutions wouldn’t.

Dave is community-minded, caring about people and not profits, a stark contrast to the faceless suits from London.

What he wants is to expose the system for what it is by applying for a licence to become a regulated bank. He knows the licence won’t be issued – none have been for 150 years. But in the process, he wants the regulatory board to define what it considers to be a bank, confirming what everyone has always suspected.

Bank of Dave frames the story through Hugh (Fry), a London lawyer sent up to Burnley on what he thought would be a thankless and pointless assignment to advise Dave on his impossible mission.

Bank of Dave co-stars Joel Fry. Picture: The Reset Collective

But Hugh, like the audience, is slowly seduced into the Dave way, and the Burnley way. And that includes a flirtation with Alexandra (Phoebe Dynevor), Dave’s niece and a doctor agitating for a free clinic to alleviate the pressure on the healthcare system.

There are a lot of exaggerated flourishes in how the movie deviates from the real-life story, but that heightened conflict is what gives Bank of Dave its forward momentum and tension.

A dramatic courtroom scene, a devious plot and a high-profile fundraising drive didn’t really happen, but it represents the underdog triumph of the real life story of the little Burnley businessman who wouldn’t be cowed by an unjust system.

And that makes for a spirited and cheerful movie.

Rating: 3 stars

Bank of Dave is in cinemas now