It's been a while since I had this movie sitting on my phone—probably since February or so.
A friday afternoon where I decided to simply download 5 or 6 of the movies in my playlist to watch in my free time.
That's how I got my hands into this gem of a movie, one that really hit close to home..
BlackBerry.
Plot
Two scientists and best friends, Mike Lazaridis and Douglas Fregrin had an idea that would change the world of business communication forever. Yet they realize that for them to survive in the business world, they need the help of a business shark.
Success and fame came, yet it seems these two scientists have bitten off more than they can chew.
This movie hit close to me because the first phone I remember my father having was the BlackBerry. At that time, it was a fun phone, a definite switch from the smaller button phones (Nokia C310) that I knew about which could only call and play minimal games and couldn't go online.
That's the switch that Mike and Doug wanted. A device that could do everything a computer can do and still fit in your hands and as we all know, it was a bit, because if it reached me all the way in Nigeria... Then surely, it was a phenomenon.
Yet this movie, is talking all about how it rose and fell, and what caused it. It's a wholesome film and I'm sure for those who love drama and overemphasized theatrics, you'd love it.
Yet, what I want to talk about is what I learned from the movie. Because what was shown in this film isn't like all other financial rise to fame movies.
What genuinely interested me in this movie was the drive of this one character Jim Balsillie
Now this guy Jim, can be grossly regarded as the antagonist and the major reason behind the fall of BlackBerry is because of his shading deals and infringement on the law.
Yet, I believe that the real antagonist was the greed and the shift of values between the two CEOs. Jim was introduced as the guy that had the drive to survive in the business world, and he did just that.
As a fellow entrepreneur, I can say that from this movie I've learned quite a lot on how to push products in sales and just how harsh you have to be to manage people.
He went even farther, knowing when to be persuasive, when to back down and when to bite hard. It was straight up inspirational...
Although he did have some anger issues, it's clear his heart was in the right place 😂😂
The Co CEO; Mike and the other characters to me really pale in comparison to the amount of activity Jim brings to the scene.
Despite that, they did still play their parts well. The movie was a joy to watch and very informative to me.
It's a great story to watch for those in the business sector. It might seem a bit slow or boring for normal viewers though, yet I still encourage all to watch it!
It's a stunning 9 out of 10 stars.
Images unsourced are screenshots of the movie.
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