SXSW FILM FESTIVAL 2024 REVIEW! Jenny Carchman’s crime documentary Whatever It Takes is so great because you have no clue what’s going to happen next. It also helps that the story becomes more and more unbelievable as the facts reveal themselves.
Our story begins with a middle-aged couple, Ina and David Steiner, who ran an e-commerce blog dating back to Y2K. One day, Ina received a threatening email warning her to stop disparaging the e-commerce community. Of course, the threats came from anonymous social media accounts, but ignoring them wouldn’t work.
Soon, threats of doxxing and harassment turned into reality when they received notice of the shipment of a pig fetus. Then a haunting pig-mask from SAW was delivered to them, alonng with a late night pizza delivery. Soon, they found themselves on various explicit mailing lists, and posts allegedly from them appeared on swinger sites. The harassment only increased over time.
Things got serious when David started receiving death threats, and then, one day, he realized he was being followed by a mysterious black car. All along the way, the police investigated harassment claims. Events got so out of hand that the FBI got involved. Through a series of lucky moments, they discovered who was behind the couple’s harassment…it was eBay!
“…they discovered who was behind the couple’s harassment…it was eBay!”
Whatever It Take tells an insane story. It features both Ina and David Steiner, members of the investigatory team, and the get of the century, one of the instigators. The beauty of Jenny Carchman’s film is how she slowly makes one revelation after the other, and with each revelation, the story becomes more and more insane.
Yes, you expect the story about the Steiners and how they found their harassers. Once the story shifts to eBay, it gets dark fast. eBay was an online auction site. The original founder’s belief in the goodness of ordinary people to fairly conduct business was foundational to the business of eBay.
But like every company in the U.S., once you become corporate, your wholesome belief of small-town America quickly evaporates, and your family company becomes a part of the corporate machine. The film shows how eBay became so large and so dangerous that they needed to take down a middle-aged couple with a blog. What method did eBay employ? “Whatever it takes.”
Whatever It Takes is an eye-opener. As much as I am a fan of capitalism versus every other system out there, I have to recognize the danger of corporations becoming too large and straying too far off the path from their original vision—an online garage sale website. The important takeaway is that we’re allowing mega-corporations to get so large that even David couldn’t slay this Goliath.
Whatever It Takes premiered at the 2024 SXSW Film Festival.