Greed, for a Lack of a Better Word, is Not Good

Capitalism: A Love Story

***1/2 out of ****

Directed by: Michael Moore

Running Time: 127 minutes

No filmmaker in contemporary cinema has ignited more debate, discussion or derision than Michael Moore.

Whether you adore the documentary filmmaker or loathe that he can ever be considered as such, you cannot deny his influence on American liberalism, as well as modern cinema.

Which gives me great pride, since his latest foray, Capitalism: A Love Story, is his most important film to date, and his best since the Oscar-winning Bowling for Columbine.

His first film, Roger and Me, illustrated the effects of General Motors’ sudden closing of several Flint, Michigan auto plants, which economically crippled the town. Capitalism expands on this subject, now focusing on how American banks and their political counterparts financially devastated the lowest 95% (in terms of accumulative wealth) of their citizens.

Capitalism is defined by Moore as “a system of taking and giving, mostly taking.” Moore focuses on the woes of ordinary Americans due to this robbery, especially the sullen folk who have been evicted from their homes due to bank defaults.

They’re not the only ones with financial instability: even airline pilots receive wages more cramped than economy-class legroom, he finds.

He also exposes the “dead peasant insurance” policies, where companies cash in on the unexpected deaths of their employees. While collecting the benefits, these corporations leave none for the grieving families.

Moore originally planned the film as a follow-up to his blockbuster Fahrenheit 9/11, focusing on the state of the American poor, in light of Hurricane Katrina. This would explain why he has more teary-eyed footage of the pennyless families and examples of corporate swindles and scandals than direct answers to how the American economy collapsed.

Still, he cites how, in post-World War 2 America, Wall Street brokers sold a message of bogus prosperity to inflate the national economy. Moore further questions the Reagan years, and the ballooning of deregulated corporate spending that started when he was in office.

While he shuns capitalism and the Wall Street elites who have gambled with taxpayer dollars (he even compares the stock exchanges to casinos), is he promoting socialism? Not quite; instead, Moore prefers democratic methods for living out the American dream.

For instance, he journeys to a technological plant where the only employees are the few dozen workers who also founded the company. They receive the same wages. As well, he goes to a bakery that works along the same lines. There, assembly-line workers make over $60,000 a year.

Then, there’s that $700 billion bailout. He points out the shifty figures who earned several shifty figures and ultimately signalled the collapse of the American economy. Here, Moore does not go quietly.

While more educated viewers may find Moore’s wry voice as condescending as a fifth grade economics teacher, it would be difficult for them to deny the relevance of the footage featured near the film’s end.

This recently discovered reel is of a proposal for a planned Second Bill of Rights, addressed by Franklin Delano Roosevelt. In this proposal, all citizens would have a right to employment, housing, education and health care.

Much of Capitalism: A Love Story is scathing and blisteringly passionate, proudly victimizing the corrupt souls who led to the current state of the global economic peril. He also, with astonishing pride, focuses in on the change that ordinary Davids are doing to defy the Goliaths for whom they work for.

Less satisfying are the bits where Michael Moore plays, well, Michael Moore. His public stunts, such as bringing an armoured truck to Wall Street to collect the bailout billions, are grand, but sometimes come off as goofy.

Thankfully, Capitalism is much more than bold comedy: it is a layered argument against the greed and corruption of modern America. It is more than just a quintessential Moore documentary. It is tremendous and in-depth filmmaking, and should be required viewing.