Thelma

The independent film Thelma—about a 93-year-old named “Thelma Post”—premiered at the 2024 Sundance Film Festival, written, directed, and edited by Josh Margolin. The film’s plot took inspiration from Margolin’s real-life grandmother Thelma Post, whose husband (Margolin’s grandfather) was prolific film and television director Ted Post. Margolin describes himself as “incredibly close” to his grandmother, and after she got duped by phone scammers who pretended to be him, he began “imagining what it would be like if she took things into her own hands and decided to get it back.”

At the Solari Report, we, too, drew attention in 2024 to the rise of scams. We continue to strongly recommend our interviews about increasingly sophisticated cybercrime (with consumer advocate Bob Sullivan) and fraudulent insurance industry practices (with attorney Matt Hale). Both interviews clearly communicate that fraud has become a corporate business model, combining “the dark side of street gangs with Fortune 500 sales tactics” and targeting not just individuals but small businesses. Unfortunately, Thelma’s scammer (spoiler alert) is a small brick-and-mortar business driven to criminal desperation by online competition from Amazon. This blame-the-victim take on scams leaves viewers in the dark about the organized crime and corporate players who are intentionally and systematically perpetrating scams and fraud. The 2024 movie The Beekeeper does a better job of illustrating the powerful protection enjoyed by high-level scammers.

Thelma does show how easily people can be tricked, particularly by tapping into the victim’s emotions and attachment to family. Additionally, though presenting wearables as taken-for-granted accessories, the film humorously illustrates how overreliance on tech can backfire. (We take issue, however, with its characters referring to Apple’s Speech Interpretation and Recognition Interface [Siri] as “she” rather than “it.”)

Thelma provides a generally gloomy look at aging, but actress June Squibb (currently 95 years old), who plays “I-don’t-feel-old” Thelma, and since-deceased Richard Roundtree (of Shaft fame), who plays her inestimable sidekick, both bring charm to their characters as well as righteous indignation about the scammers taking advantage of seniors’ generosity and savings.