Country:
USA
Recognizable Faces:
Michael Moore
Directed By:
Michael Moore
I can dig a good documentary. Scratch that...I can dig a good documentary that's not about some weird animal I've never heard about. They are an accessible source of information on pressing issues. I have to admit that prodigal-son-of-the-craft Michael Moore is a guilty pleasure of mine. He's not honest, that is a fact. He seeks to convince, rather than inform and it's obtrusive. But once you can mentally tune off his annoying voice, you can appreciate what is good at. And that is research. Moore always digs up the dirty, darker sides of his subject and throws them at your face like it was a dog poop. His documentaries most often hurt and it's intended. Capitalism: A Love Story might just be his most truthful, alarming film.
I like capitalism. I mean...as much as someone can like it. I like it better than communism or dictatorship for example. But it's gotten out of hand. Big time. Moore's latest movie is a plea for socialism (which I chose to disregard), but his exposition of demented, dangerous capitalism is what struck me. A few of his subjects struck me hard. First, do you know that companies in the U.S (big companies, not your small time telemarketing crooks) take insurance policies on your life, so that your death becomes a profit. Picture this (and this is entirely true). No matter how hard you work every day of the week, how much you give of yourself to your boss...you will be worth more for him dead. They even keep stats on this. Moore gave the example of a Bank Of America employee who died of cancer. While his wife grieved and paid the funeral bills, BoA was five million dollars richer.
Moore situates the loss of control over capitalism along the lines of Ronald Reagan's election. He started deregulating the financial market and opened up Pandora's box. People that had money to invest had no more barriers to use the poor to make more money...and to use the poor's money against them, so they could make even more money while the middle class disappeared under a layer of debts. Money becomes a passport to freedom. And by freedom I mean FREEDOM in capital letters and bold font. Capitalism:A Love Story is worth watching for this alone. It's a testimony of the disappearance of the middle class. The quiet suburbs gradually become images.
There are plenty of outrageous examples of hell-bent capitalism in Moore's movie. Another infuriating one is the city of Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania. They turned juvenile detention into a business. They had the highest record of juvenile delinquents in America. Not because it's a terrible city, but because locking up kids was profit. Mark Ciavarella and Michael Conahan took over 2,6 million$ from PA Child Care LLC to fill their walls with young delinquents. Kids got locked up for stupid reasons like creating a myspace page poking fun at a teacher or smoking weed at a party. Thank God, this scheme is over now.
I'm still not crazy about Michael Moore, the man. But his movies are giving a terrifying look of America. Most important, there's no necktie wearing man saying: "It's never been better". Moore talks to the middle class he's trying to protect. I wouldn't finish the review without having a word for the Hacker family, the most troubling sight of Capitalism: A Love Story. They are a sign of alarm. No family should experience what they did.
Ever.
SCORE: 94%
