The biggest corporate scandal in South African history, the fall of Steinhoff led to a loss of R200 billion. Steinheist untangles the story: the investors who were taken in; the victims and the CEO, Markus Jooste, who’s still a free man.

The Steinhoff story is a fascinating one. An intriguing tale of greed, ‘boys being boys’, and bullies bullying. The Steinheist documentary covers it well enough, although it does not quite measure up to the brilliant doccies out there. For example, The Devil Next door was in essence a court case cut together from grainy archival footage. Yet it was entrancing.

Steinheist gets a couple of things right. It breaks down intricate financial practices into comprehensible bites. It interviews all the players – the wronged, the complicit, those who spotted the snake in the grass from the start. It gives you the Afrikaner, misogynist ‘beer and braai’ culture Jooste grew up with and ultimately perpetuated. It paints him as a clever psychopath who could manipulate even Christo Wiese.

Yet, it is not terribly exciting. Perhaps it is the average photography? The poor production values? Less than flamboyant characters? The stock footage on repeat? The elevator music? Or the way it is all edited together? It feels like doing homework, attending a lecture on a subject you do not like.

One trait of a successful doccie is that it takes a story you know damn well but tells it in such a manner that you are surprised by the outcome, even upset by it. Another trait is that the show interests you in a topic you do not care about. I was not particularly riled up by the injustice and won’t say I have more of an interest in corporate finance since watching Steinheist.

If you are competing against documentaries such as Making a murderer, Don’t f**k with cats and Wild, Wild Coutnry you better be slick, exciting, and damn good entertainment. Steinheist is none of these things.

Kudos to Showmax for attempting to air our dirty laundry, tell our interesting tales. Here’s to hoping the quality of their documentaries will only improve.

Only watch if you are really interested in the subject.