Looking back at the nightmare of financial crisis in 2008, Wall Street banking film "Margin Call" marked the beginning of the official competition for the Golden Bear highest prize in the Berlin film festival (Berlinale) on Friday.

A suspenseful ride through the last 24 hours in the banking industry before the dark slide into the financial crisis of 2008, "Margin Call" uncovers the emotional lives of Wall Street's bankers, brokers and analysts.

Kevin Spacey, who plays Sam Rogers, a high-ranking broker, whose thirty-five years in the business fail to prepare him for the crash, spoke about his character at a press conference on Friday.

"I found it fascinating to humanize the kind of person that have been dehumanized for so long.""These are just regular people with regular jobs..who had to follow orders," said Spacey.

"It's not just excessive greed on an individual scale," American director JC Chandor told the press on Friday. "We as a country are all acting greedy right now."

The debut feature from writer/director JC Chandor, "Margin Call" does not lack great actors. The film stars Kevin Spacey, Jeremy Irons, Paul Bettany, Demi Moore, Stanley Tucci and Zachary Quinto.

Berlin film enthusiast, Volker Bleeck, who saw the film on Friday, told Xinhua that he felt the film "gave an accurate picture of the things that subsequently led to the financial crash. It's a very tense film and I thought that it was very believable."

Over the next ten days, 16 films will compete for the Golden and Silver Bears at Berlinale.

When asked about the star-studded cast, Volker Bleeck told Xinhua that he loved the performances. "Kevin Spacey could read the phone book and it would be amazing!"

The Berlinale is to run from Feb. 10th to 20th, with nearly 400 films from 58 countries and regions.