BANK REFUSES BLACK MAN TO ENTER SO HE BUYS THE BANK AND BECOME THEIR BOSS

beneath this hat hides a top business

acumen

this little black boy named bernard is a

shoe shining boy but pay attention he

chooses to set up his stall in front of

the bank intentionally so that his

customers are all rich white people

he doesn't care about the little money

earned by shining shoes he works slowly

so he can hear the financial secrets

white people are talking about while

they wait

as soon as they leave the little boy

would write it down in a notebook

all he really wants is the valuable

financial knowledge he heard from them

from a very young age he knows that his

lifelong dream is to become a banker

this is texas in 1939 a place where

black people are oppressed by severe

discrimination

his father tells him sadly that his

dream is impossible but bernard's eyes

show determination against all odds

fifteen years later the grown-up boy

moves to los angeles with his wife

eunice and children

the racial discrimination here is not as

serious as in his home so he decides to

start his business here

the family of three has to live in a

dilapidated utility room of one of his

relatives

still bernard promises his wife that

they will move out soon

he starts as a real estate agent and

searches for houses for sale everywhere

in the city

through keen observation he finds that

the black community in los angeles is

overcrowded while the white community

still has many empty houses

black people have rental needs and

financial strength but there is no

market

this is a great business opportunity for

real estate speculation and renting

he sees a white-owned apartment with

weeds on the front door obviously not in

very good condition

still only he sees the advantage of the

house's location which is adjacent to

the black area

he goes to the owner and says that you

only rented out half of the apartment so

why don't you sell it to me

i'll give you thirty thousand dollars

now and i'll give you another five

thousand dollars when i rent out all the

rooms

although the owner admires his idea he

doesn't want to do risky business

bernard expresses his understanding

before leaving he suddenly glances at

the owner's calendar which shows that it

is given by a local bank manager

so an idea comes to his mind

he says goodbye to the owner and goes to

the bank directly where he finds the

manager who sent the calendar

the manager's secretary who

discriminates against black people

refuses to introduce him to the manager

he waits for a few hours at the bank

door and when the manager comes out he

stops him immediately

he says i know one of your vip customers

the business i do will benefit him and i

hope you can approve a loan for me

but the bank manager rejects him without

thinking

that night he receives a call from the

owner

the owner asks him did you use my name

to try to get a loan

he has no choice but to apologize

unexpectedly the owner doesn't blame him

but admires his belief that he will not

give up until his goal is achieved the

owner decides to guarantee the loan for

him so he gets the first loan in his

life from the bank and buys the property

an old white lady has just come home

from shopping when she sees a black man

at her door

what are you doing

she asks with a sharp voice

the black man answers calmly i'm

renovating the apartment building

the old lady speaks with a mean face

workers like you should be careful

bernard responds don't worry this is my

building and i will definitely take good

care of it

speechless the old lady goes home

angrily and the police come soon after

they tell bernard that an old lady

called the police and then asked him if

he pretended to be the owner and

contradicted her

unexpectedly bernard takes out a copy of

the real estate certificate

it turns out that he has foreseen

trouble so he is prepared in advance

the police realized that the house

really belongs to him so they leave in a

huff

that night bernard returns to the

apartment building

the old lady at the door sees him and

immediately tells him to get out because

it is not the time for renovation

bernard still replies calmly i am not a

renovation worker now i am the owner

the old lady is dumbfounded and a few

days later she moves out angrily because

she doesn't want to live in the same

building with black people

as soon as the old lady leaves bernard

rents out her house to a black lady

sure enough the black tenant market is

huge as he has foreseen

the building is quickly filled and

bernard gives the negotiated follow-up

payment to the former owner the former

owner admires bernard very much and

offers to start a business with him

bernard chooses the house and calculates

the income and the old owner negotiates

the transaction and signs the contract

with him in front white people won't

know that they are doing business with

black people and they will split the

revenue

bernard readily agrees

the cooperation between the two goes

very smoothly and they make a lot of

money immediately

bernard also moves from an apartment

block to a mansion shortly after

providing a happy life for his beloved

family

this is his wisdom when someone

discriminates against him he will not

punch back because then he will fall

into other people's game rules

he wants to play his own rules

rational economic and maximum profit is

his ultimate goals

however life does not always go smoothly

and challenges can arise at any moment

the former owner who works with bernard

is old and frail and dies suddenly a few

years later

his equity in the company is inherited

by his wife

this woman severely discriminates

against black people and doesn't want to

cooperate with bernard

she contemptuously offers to buy bernard

shares at a very low price and if he

disagrees she will sue him

in that era when whites and blacks

litigate who do you think the judge

would favor

bernard is not willing to be treated so

unfairly so he decides to go to court

but he had to find someone to testify to

prove his cooperative relationship with

the old owner

he thinks of the bank manager but the

manager has already cooperated with the

widow and avoids bernard again

extremely disappointed bernard stands in

the bank and looks around

the neat and tidy bank building shows

systematically discriminatory fangs

everywhere

just because of the color of his skin he

is often scorned when he walks into the

bank

thinking of this a bold plan gradually

rises up in bernard's mind

there are four banks in one building and

each of them has closed doors for this

black man

at this moment bernard's mind generated

a genius idea i will buy this building

and see who of you dares to discriminate

against me again

so bernard finds joe another black real

estate developer in los angeles and

tells him his plans

at first joe thinks he is out of his

mind because the land price of the

building is extremely high and never has

a black person ever bought land in la

downtown

but after discussing it for a while joe

discovers that bernard is not a

delusional man but a thoughtful

rationalist

why does he want to buy this building

because as long as he owns the building

the bank inside will serve him they dare

not refuse to give him a loan

they will also disclose the real estate

trend to him so that his real estate

business will be smoother joe is shocked

by his idea but after thinking about it

he believes it will work

although he is extremely wealthy he is

also subject to white people everywhere

if he can step on white bankers on white

land he will make more money

however they still cannot negotiate

transactions with white people directly

so they need a white person as an agent

in this regard bernard already has an

idea in mind matt who has been helping

him with renovations

this guy is an honest man he's also very

ambitious just a little inexperienced

so bernard and joe set out to train matt

comprehensively teaching him golf

high-class manners mathematical thinking

and real estate

matt lives up to expectations and

quickly becomes proficient at golf

while playing golf he can calculate real

estate valuations just like a young and

promising entrepreneur

at a golf club matt meets the owner of

the bank building

of course this encounter is also

arranged by joe

the conversation goes well matt gets the

chance to buy the building and the rest

will be negotiated

but matt doesn't know how to do it

don't worry

before the negotiation bernard helps

matt make all the preparations

he first counts the number of lights on

in the building after dark calculates

the vacancy rate of the building and

then gets the building estimate value

through the building's annual revenue

and operating costs bernard prepares any

numbers that might be involved and asks

matt to memorize these numbers before

meeting with the owner

as a result no matter how the big boss

bluffs about his property matt is always

one step ahead and gives out the exact

number which shocks the big boss

the accountant beside him is also

dumbfounded

they all think that they have

encountered a math genius and can't fool

him at all

in the end bernard gets the building

that is initially priced at more than

2.4 million dollars for just 1.56

million dollars

from then on whenever bernard goes in or

out of the building the president of

every bank will come to shake his hand

the little manager who made things

difficult for him in the past is shocked

with the support of the banking industry

bernard and joe's real estate careers

expand rapidly

they break the strict zoning of los

angeles's black and white segregation

single-handedly

many young and promising blacks move

into white neighborhoods

soon after they even get received by the

vice president

several years later in 1963 bernard

takes his family back to texas to visit

his father britain

after their dinner britain tells bernard

that he's proud of his accomplishments

the next day bernard walks around town

with his son

before they know it they are standing in

front of the bank where bernard worked

as a shoe shine boy

at that time texas was the most racist

place in america

they meet a young boy shining shoes just

like bernard used to when he was little

to bernard's surprise the boy will only

work on the shoes of white people

this little incident touches bernard and

awakens his sense of responsibility to

his fellow man

he secretly makes up his mind that he

must change the status quo and help the

black community in his hometown get

better housing

the next day bernard visits joe and

tells him that they should buy the

mainland bank in texas

joe thinks bernard is out of his mind

for even thinking about it because the

racism in texas is so severe

but bernard manages to show compelling

reasons to make the purchase

in the end joe agrees to help bernard

out

they recruit matt again and use him to

be their frontman once more

they meet with the bank owner robert

florence senior and junior to discuss

the numbers of the deal

despite florence junior suspicions

senior sells the bank to matt and his

partners

with the mainland bank acquired bernard

gets to work and starts helping the

african americans in town get approved

for loans

it would seem that bernard's goal is to

help his fellow men get a fair chance at

housing and even money-making

opportunities

things go well for a time until florence

jr starts investigating the loans that

their bank approves

one day florence follows matt and meets

up with bernard and joe

he confronts them about the loans they

approved and threatens them with a

letter from the u.s treasury department

he says that the department will inspect

the bank's operations in one month

as florence jr leaves the guys discussed

their next moves

during that time matt comes up with a

suggestion

he suggests that they buy another bank

and transfer the problem loans from

mainland to that bank

they discussed the purchase of the bank

of marlon moore and bernard says the

main problem is overseeing the

operations of the bank

in response matt suggests that he be

allowed to run the new bank

bernard expresses his discomfort with

the idea but he eventually settles with

letting eunice keep an eye on matt

in the end matt gets to run his bank

just like he wanted

the next day matt meets up with a lawyer

and starts signing loan contracts on his

signal

sometime later matt receives a call from

florence jr regarding clients that want

to withdraw all their money from

mainland

to make matters worse a federal bank

examiner arrives at marlin

to help matt bernard forces himself to

dress up as a janitor so he can get

close during the meeting

unfortunately it doesn't make a

difference since the examiner discovers

a critical problem on several loans

bernard is in disbelief that the absurd

loans got approved

eventually they learned that it was

florence juniors doing all along

it turns out that while rushing to run

his bank matt skipped protocols and used

a lawyer that florence recommended

through that florence was able to sneak

in the problematic loans

sometime later bernard and joe tell matt

that the most rational move they can

make is to walk away from the bank of

marlin

unwilling to let his bank go matt makes

a move without letting his partners know

joe learns about his move the next day

and rushes to mainland bank with bernard

they confront matt about the loans while

florence watches the spectacle with a

proud look on his face

bernard tells matt to get their books

but it's too late

the federal bank examiners arrive to

revoke mainland bank's license to

operate

while leaving the building the fbi

arrests bernard and joe

bernard tries to stand his ground but

it's a futile struggle

sometime later bernard and joe meet up

with their lawyer

they learn that their case got dragged

along with some racial politics in the

country

meanwhile matt talks with senator

mcclellan about testifying against his

partners in exchange for his freedom

matt contemplates his next move that

night and makes a phone call

matt follows mcclellan's suggestions and

testifies against his partners at the

senate hearing the next day later that

day bernard also meets with mcclellan

and listens to his proposal

he gives him a choice to take an

immunity deal and confirm matt's

testimonies or bernard can say whatever

he wants and go to jail

in the end bernard decides to say the

words that have been kept in his heart

for years

he talks about racial discrimination in

the country

shortly after that both bernard and

joe's fortunes got decimated after the

hearing the two also got sentenced to

federal prison

florence jr purchases the mainland bank

for a small fraction of the price paid

by bernard and joe

meanwhile matt steiner never got charged

with any crime

several years later bernard and joe get

out of prison

eunice finds it strange that the two men

seem happy even after losing all their

fortune

it turns out that's not the case at all

joe reveals that they have properties

next to each other in the bahamas

eunice is in disbelief and asks bernard

how that happened

it turns out that the man matt called

the night before his testimony was

bernard

he told bernard about the senator's deal

and apologized to him

in return bernard asked mata favor

before the government could seize their

assets

the movie ends after we learned that

bernard and joe's residential properties

were instrumental to the fight against

housing segregation in la and they still

have two mansions next to each other in

bahamas