DOKFILM - THE NARRATIVE

By Sebastian Borger

One man. A loss of billions. A story that made headlines around the world. But what if the narrative we know tells only part of the truth? THE NARRATIVE takes the spectacular UBS scandal surrounding former trader Kweku Adoboli as the starting point for a film that is as gripping as it is highly topical, exploring responsibility within the machinery of global capitalism.

In 2011, a loss of 2.3 billion dollars rocked UBS. A culprit was quickly found: the young trader Kweku Adoboli became the figurehead of one of Switzerland’s biggest banking scandals. But was the story really that simple?

THE NARRATIVE reconstructs the court case using original court transcripts and challenges the official version of events. The result is a portrait of a man who, caught between the mechanisms of a global financial system, media narratives and legal interpretations, increasingly loses control over his own story.

Without providing simple answers, the film opens up a fundamental debate about individual guilt and structural responsibility. How do narratives arise? Who do they benefit? And why are we so willing to reduce complex interrelationships to a single person?

An intelligent, gripping and highly topical documentary that looks far beyond the UBS scandal to examine the power of narratives in politics, business and society.

Switzerland, 2026 / 103 mins.

Audio: English

Subtitles: German