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The Phoenician Scheme Forgives a Billionaire Who Doesn’t Deserve It
Offering an optimistic ending to a terrible guy almost literally tears the new Wes Anderson film apart in its final stretch.
After battling capitalism incarnate in the form of his brother, Nubar (Benedict Cumberbatch), Zsa-Zsa bankrolls the infrastructure projects on his own, ridding himself of his immense wealth and instead choosing to run a restaurant with Liesl. Watching Phoenician Scheme, it’s impossible not to see hints of our beloved American oligarchs in Zsa-Zsa — from his ambivalence about causing mass suffering to the fact that he keeps nine extra sons around just in case one of them turns out to be Einstein. The film’s plot, too, strikes some uncomfortably familiar chords: As Zsa-Zsa flies around the world meeting with disgruntled investors, the fate of his infrastructure projects — and thus the day-to-day lives of millions of people — rests on the outcome of petty disputes between a handful of billionaires.
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