Capitalism: A Love Story - Political Documentary Film by Michael Moore - Perfect for Economics Students & Social Activists
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Product Description
Product Description Explores root causes of global economic meltdown - "biggest robbery in history of this country - massive transfer of US taxpayer money to financial institutions". Amazon.com Michael Moore's didactic documentary style is actually a source of inspiration in Capitalism: A Love Story. This film, which explores the history of incongruence between American capitalism and democracy, is evidently a culmination of Moore's lifetime of research into this topic: he begins the movie by admitting his longstanding interest, rooted in childhood experiences in Flint, Michigan. As a result, the film displays an expertise that is less irritating than in Moore's earlier works, in which various loopholes can be found in one-sided presentations (see Bowling for Columbine). Here Moore employs his trademark tactics to make a satirical documentary that functions as a film-based, grassroots political strategy meant to provoke revolt. Consisting of patched-together clips from various eras and media outlets, the film weaves a narrative that underscores Moore's argument that while America is a success because of its democracy, it has been denigrated by capitalism, which he calls "a system of taking and giving, mostly taking." Capitalism: A Love Story is a patriotic call to arms that seeks to ignite rage in the viewer who is tired of political stupidity resulting in poverty and hardship among a dwindling middle class. It begins by tracing the growing gap between the rich and poor, from the Depression through the 1950s "free enterprise" boom. Using clips of FDR and Jimmy Carter warning against greed and inequality, Moore shows how gradually Americans came to accept Reaganomics, corporate corruption, then Bush-era swindling over time. This history serves as context for his explanation of the housing crisis, the collapse of banks, and Bush's covert, last-ditch efforts to pass sketchy bills on the cusp of Obama's election. Moore asks several lawyers, senators, and bankers, "What the **** happened?" and each offers intelligent assessments of situations that many American viewers still struggle to comprehend. Unfortunately, there are corny Moore moments throughout the film, such as when he takes an armored truck to various banking headquarters and harasses security guards to let him in to reclaim money stolen from the American public. Clips of Bush dancing juxtaposed with shots of people crying because they've lost their homes are melodramatic and only weaken Moore's arguments. Like Robin Hood, Moore seeks justice, but his greatest strength is as a translator between those speaking a complex political language and his viewers. Capitalism: A Love Story, while it does have a condescending tone throughout, does much to relay a complicated history that we all need to know for the sake of our own empowerment.
Customer Reviews
Michael Moore has made one of his best documentaries so far, showing how the criminal Wall Street bankers performed their "financial coup d'état" in 2008.To begin with, under Reagan, they pushed the deregulation process. One of the best scenes of this movie is the chairman of Merrill Lynch saying to Reagan while he was actually delivering a speech : "you have to speed it up". It is one of those very rare instants when you actually see who is acting and who is in control ! After the Wall Street boys got their deregulation, they invented all kind of new ways to make money in their insane casino, one of them being called "derivatives". Moore asked some Wall Street gurus, including a Harvard professor, to have us explained what a "derivative" is, and neither of them succeeded. And that's exactly the point. Make it complicated, and project high returns, and no questions will be asked.The banks made a home run. They got in trouble, but taxpayers were invited to pay for it. In 2008, Bush used the old trick of 9/11 again, and used *fear* to orchestrate what Moore calls a "financial coup d'état". Two months before election, we were told by the mass media that "the economy would collapse" if banks were not saved. That was a major fraud. Through a backdoor agreement involving the president and the president-to-be, an agreement was reached to inject $700 billion of tax money in the criminal banks.In the meantime, people have lost their houses, and are still losing them, at a flabbergasting rate of every 7.5 seconds ! Moore makes an important point when showing how the middle class lived 30 to 40 years ago : one wage-earner was enough to support a whole family, own a house, have a car, take yearly vacations, have health care, could rely on a pension, etc. This model looks from a distant past, although it was part... of our childhood ! Wages have been in steady decline since the 80's, and pensions and health care have been privatized. In the process, the middle class is virtually ruined.Citibank calls what's left of the US democracy a "plutonomy". Following their definition this is an economy "powered by and for the benefit of the wealthy". Following the same memo, the top 1 % of the American households has more wealth than the bottom 95% combined. Moore also highlights the fact that this memo considers "the most potent and mayor threat is societies demanding a more "equitable" share of the wealth".If the economic system fails and if the democracy is not working at all, then maybe it's time to go back to the essence of honest business and real democracy. One of the solutions highlighted by Michael Moore are cooperatives, where the pay is fairly distributed, and decisions are made together. As complementary reading, I would recommend John Abram's Companies We Keep (Revised & Expanded): Employee Ownership and the Business of Community and Place.The Extras on this DVD - with some interesting interviews - highlight another solution : CSA (community supported agriculture). The way out of insanity is definitively empowering local communities.
