Ben Rickert (Brad Pitt): “You know what I hate about f—ing banking? It reduces people to numbers.” —“The Big Short”

Ten years and three days ago, Lehman Brothers collapsed. People around the world woke up the next day to the start of the one of the largest global financial meltdowns in history. In the United States, millions of Americans lost their homes, their jobs, their sense of security and their faith.

“99 Homes,” a thriller-drama directed by Ramin Bahrani, focuses on one of those Americans.

Dennis Nash (Andrew Garfield), a construction worker, lives with his mother, Lynn (Laura Dern), a hairstylist, and his son, Connor (Noah Lomax), in their family home. He is a couple months behind on his mortgage, but he is hopeful and committed.

When he is not working or looking for work, he is either in court or calling lawyers, fighting to keep his home. He promises his son and his mother that nothing will happen. The next day, a real estate representative, Rick Carver (Michael Shannon) and two cops show up to the Nash household. In minutes, Dennis and his family are evicted.

To survive and buy back his home, Dennis starts to work for Rick.

In his modern take on the legend of Faust, Bahrani crafts a nuanced and necessary film. There are no easy heroes or villains. All characters are deeply flawed and redemptive humans who are simply adapting to circumstances forced upon them. As Rick reminds Dennis, “America doesn’t bail out the losers. America was built by bailing out winners. By rigging a nation of the winners, for the winners, by the winners.”

We may not always agree with Dennis and Rick, but we always empathize with them. This empathy elevates “99 Homes” to a great film.

We have seen the 2008 financial crisis in theaters before, but never from such a micro-perspective. Bahrani and his crew film the financial crisis from the ground-level. They force the audience to experience Dennis’ helplessness. The editing is harsh and disorienting, with the filmography hand-held and the visuals unadorned. “99 Homes” finds drama in incredibly personal and difficult realities.

Without sacrificing this realism, Bahrani demonstrates profound artistry. Even in harrowing moments, he creates poetic shots rich with symbolism. During the eviction, he frames Dennis behind bars, in a lull in the action he finds Dennis’ partial reflection in glass doors and at the end of the film he leaves the audience with a graceful and quiet final shot. These moments do not call attention to themselves; they are stunning because of their simplicity, timeliness and strong thematic resonance.

Under less careful hands, “99 Homes” could have easily become proselytizing awards bait. Occasionally, the dialogue veers dangerously in that direction, but Bahrani and his team save it with steady direction and excellent acting. The two leads, Andrew Garfield and Michael Shannon, execute difficult roles brilliantly.

Dennis Nash is completely torn as a man forced to choose between his values and his finances. Anything less than superb acting would have hobbled the film substantially. Andrew Garfield delivers his career best with “99 Homes.” He commits fully to his performance and proves that he deserves more engaging and complicated roles.

Ultimately, even Garfield’s best cannot match Michael Shannon’s genius performance. Shannon absolutely kills it in every single scene. He delivers scathing monologues with inspired fervor and imbues the slightest gesture with the most nihilistic menace. He deserved an Oscar just for the strength of his final line and expression.

“99 Homes” made just $1.9 million at the box office. It was critically successful but publicly forgotten. That’s a real shame. Few films can completely alter how you understand the world. “99 Homes” is one of those films.

A decade after the collapse of Lehman Brothers, Bahrani’s film remains urgent. It is a reminder of inherent flaws in American capitalist culture and a plea to combat those very flaws. I watched “99 Homes” first three years ago, yet its final shot—both heartbreaking and hopeful—still haunts me.