Capitalism: A Love Story «««
R, 127m. 2009
Cast & Credits: Written and directed by Michael Moore.
When it comes to the subjects Michael Moore addresses and attacks, a warning should be attached to the film or maybe a sign at the front doors of the theater entrance that says "View at your own risk," or "Don't come if you aren't going to view my movie with an open mind."
OK. I'll listen to what Moore has to say but that doesn't mean I am going to accept what he says as fact. At their best, Moore's previous controversial documentaries like Fahrenheit 9/11 (2004) and Sicko (2007) stirred up anger.
The vast inaccuracies of Fahrenheit 9/11 disgusted me to the point I saw it as a comedy mocking former President Bush. By comparison, I was infuriated with how terror suspects got better health care while incarcerated at Guantanamo Bay and volunteers working at Ground Zero denied health coverage in Sicko. At their worst, these one-sided documentaries are nothing more than entertainment.
Love him or hate him, I find it hard to ignore some of Moore's accusations in all his films. If I were actually serious about pursuing journalism, I'd investigate his claims myself to see if they are really based on fact.
It comes as no surprise that in Capitalism: A Love Story, Moore lays the blame on the country's financial crisis from the collapsing housing market and mass layoffs to corporate greed on Republicans doorsteps beginning with former President Reagan in 1980 on up to Bush, Jr.
"No one should benefit when someone dies," says a daughter who lost her mother unexpectedly.
The scariest revelation comes when we learn overworked and underpaid airline pilots make barely enough to buy groceries. Some resort to using food stamps. Their salaries are less than what a person makes at McDonalds, we're told.
Having just flown back and forth to Chicago on Southwest Airlines, how comfortable would you be as a paying passenger that, if true, the pilots actually make only $20,000 a year or less? Would you feel safe in the air?
When Moore isn't busy delivering tragic accounts of struggling families and laid off employees attempting to make ends meet, he is busy keeping up his persona donning his signature blue jeans, sneakers, and baseball cap making the rounds to places like GM headquarters, asking to see the president of the company, only to be turned away by security. The same thing happens when he arrives at the front doors of various corporations on Wall Street with an empty money bag in his hands telling security he is there to collect the money they took from the people.
Not surprisingly, when Moore stands outside the New York Stock Exchange asking stockbrokers as they are leaving work what derivatives are or if any of them have any financial advice, one says, "Yeah, don't make any more movies."
There is no denying something has to be done about the way banks have screwed over consumers, as shown in Capitalism: A Love Story.
I am all for a revolution and in some cases, we're starting to see how Americans are rebelling against the government by saying no to nationalized health care at Town Hall meetings.
I am just not as convinced, as Moore is, that doing away with capitalism and moving the country towards socialism is a good thing.
©10/2/09
R, 127m. 2009
Cast & Credits: Written and directed by Michael Moore.
OK. I'll listen to what Moore has to say but that doesn't mean I am going to accept what he says as fact. At their best, Moore's previous controversial documentaries like Fahrenheit 9/11 (2004) and Sicko (2007) stirred up anger.
The vast inaccuracies of Fahrenheit 9/11 disgusted me to the point I saw it as a comedy mocking former President Bush. By comparison, I was infuriated with how terror suspects got better health care while incarcerated at Guantanamo Bay and volunteers working at Ground Zero denied health coverage in Sicko. At their worst, these one-sided documentaries are nothing more than entertainment.
Love him or hate him, I find it hard to ignore some of Moore's accusations in all his films. If I were actually serious about pursuing journalism, I'd investigate his claims myself to see if they are really based on fact.
It comes as no surprise that in Capitalism: A Love Story, Moore lays the blame on the country's financial crisis from the collapsing housing market and mass layoffs to corporate greed on Republicans doorsteps beginning with former President Reagan in 1980 on up to Bush, Jr.
The film's most powerful moments are when Moore personally interviews families about to lose their home through foreclosure. In the opening moments, Moore asks if we want to remember America for having smart cats that know how to flush the toilets or if we want to remember America as the country where law enforcement agents in seven vehicles drive up to a resident's foreclosed home and the family waits for them to break the door down to serve their eviction papers?We learn of companies, such as Wal-Mart, that take out insurance policies on sick employees and stand to make money, if that particular worker dies, while the grieving family gets nothing.
"No one should benefit when someone dies," says a daughter who lost her mother unexpectedly.
The scariest revelation comes when we learn overworked and underpaid airline pilots make barely enough to buy groceries. Some resort to using food stamps. Their salaries are less than what a person makes at McDonalds, we're told.
Having just flown back and forth to Chicago on Southwest Airlines, how comfortable would you be as a paying passenger that, if true, the pilots actually make only $20,000 a year or less? Would you feel safe in the air?
When Moore isn't busy delivering tragic accounts of struggling families and laid off employees attempting to make ends meet, he is busy keeping up his persona donning his signature blue jeans, sneakers, and baseball cap making the rounds to places like GM headquarters, asking to see the president of the company, only to be turned away by security. The same thing happens when he arrives at the front doors of various corporations on Wall Street with an empty money bag in his hands telling security he is there to collect the money they took from the people.
Not surprisingly, when Moore stands outside the New York Stock Exchange asking stockbrokers as they are leaving work what derivatives are or if any of them have any financial advice, one says, "Yeah, don't make any more movies."
What's missing from Capitalism: A Love Story is the emotion that stirred me up watching Fahrenheit 9/11 and Sicko. Much of what's discussed in Capitalism: A Love Story is nothing new. We've seen and heard all the horror stories about foreclosures and mass layoffs on the news over the past year.Moore's solution to the problem is going the socialism route as we learn how President Roosevelt had outlined a second Bill of Rights shortly before he died in 1945 that would have entitled everyone nationalized health care. To Moore, America would have been a perfect world; one where no one will be faced with foreclosure, where everyone will always have a job and never worry about where their next paycheck will come from.
There is no denying something has to be done about the way banks have screwed over consumers, as shown in Capitalism: A Love Story.
I am all for a revolution and in some cases, we're starting to see how Americans are rebelling against the government by saying no to nationalized health care at Town Hall meetings.
I am just not as convinced, as Moore is, that doing away with capitalism and moving the country towards socialism is a good thing.
©10/2/09
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