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Review: Capitalism: A Love Story

Moore of the same: Capitalism fails to make a prophet
By PETER KEOUGH  |  September 29, 2009
2.5 2.5 Stars

 

Capitalism: A Love Story | Written and Directed by Michael Moore | with Michael Moore | Overture | 127 minutes
In his new film about the Wall Street meltdown, Michael Moore — surprise! — denounces capitalism and its exploitation of the working class. Not that he's above doing a little exploiting himself. I dare you not to dab an eye as the young son of a cancer victim loses his composure when his mother relates how her husband's employer, Wal-Mart, collected $1.5 million in insurance from a "dead peasant" policy they took out on him without his knowledge.

How dare they! It gets you worked up! But exactly what point is Moore making? What should we be angry about? Are we supposed to see that poor cancer victim as the logical outcome of a capitalist system that turns labor into commodities? What does that have to do with home foreclosures, unemployment, big executive salaries, and the bailout? And what the hell are derivatives?

Moore admits that that last item has him stymied too. But he argues that the concept has been made incomprehensible so that "they" can do what they want — like throwing people out of their jobs and their homes while sucking in billions. And who are "they?" Bernie Madoff, certainly, but Barney Frank? Moore joins Lou Dobbs and every other right-wing talking pinhead in denouncing the $700 billion bailout, and though I'm no expert in the matter, I think had not something like that been done, most of us would now be picking fruit for a living.

But then, if Moore did take pains to explain everything and construct a coherent argument, who'd bother to pay 10 bucks to see it? It would be a mini-series. So he applies the tried and true methods he used when he started in this business 20 years ago with Roger and Me: funny archival footage; faux confrontations between Moore and the hapless security guards barring his entrance to various corporate headquarters; wacky stunts like encircling AIG, Lehman Brothers, and the rest with yellow crime-scene tape; touching scenes with corporate victims; experts providing rueful background (Wally Shawn?).

Some bits (the song about Cleveland that ends "At least we're not Detroit") are funnier than others (the CGI doomsday effects as Bush announces the financial crisis). But, overall, this Moore effort is even more inconsistent than usual. For example, is Obama on the take or not? Moore notes that the president's campaign accepted a $2 million donation from the bad guys, but in the next scene he's applauding the man's election as if it were the second coming. He's echoing the Teabaggers here, a movement he otherwise ignores. Shouldn't he instead be showing how genuine grassroots rage has been hijacked and redirected from the real culprits to "socialist" scapegoats like Obama himself?

And so, finally, the "S" word. Moore makes no bones about it — he is one. At the end, he baldly states, "Capitalism is an evil, and you can't regulate evil. You have to replace it with something that is good for everyone. It should be eliminated." Eliminated and replaced by a socialist system that, generations of propaganda be damned, is as American as the Constitution. In that document, Moore can find no mention of capitalism, only suspicious, pinko-sounding words and phrases like "We the people" and "union."

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Related: W. gets a B, The nanny state, Hoover? Damn!, More more >
  Topics: Reviews , Barack Obama, Barack Obama, recession,  More more >
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Comments
Re: Review: Capitalism: A Love Story
Michael Moore better make up his mind.  If he is an artist, he should allow his creative freedom to unchain itself into worthy projects.  If he is a documentarist and therefore a reporter, he should report the facts instead of contradicting them throughtout the movie.
 
He is indicting a system (capitalism and the democracy that created it) that allows him freedom of speech and expression, accolades for the filth he churns out, and to laugh all the way to the bank.  And he is mentioning how after the war, Americans helped create the constitutions and governments of Europe and Asia as socialist democracies and how well they are working).  Hello!
 
He said his father worked for GM, then he showed his father saying he worked for the Spark Plugs company.  Then his uncle helped found UAM, but his uncle also did not actually work for any of the car companies.  He said Clinton brought in the people from Goldman-Sachs into the Treasury and then unleashed his venom on Bush for keeping them.  And forgot to mention when he vilified the first bailout (only the 1st one) saying that it was the work of President Bush and not of the 4 Democrats that stoods there smiling taking the kudos for having passed it).  I kept asking myself, can't the people in this theatre remember what they were told just 5 minutes ago?  Obama is the deliverer?  How about the bailouts he keeps ramming down our throats?
 
Oh and he even spoke about the health plan and the Public Option.  Please, if you do nothing else before you go to bed tonight, send an e-mail to your representatives about your beliefs concerning the health plan.
 
 
When asked for specifics facts to help the students (the auditorium was jammed with bright and eager young faces  that know not what they are doing and think their ideals will save humanity) he said what he says in the movie, revolt but skipped the how to's which is what the student was asking.  The student was asking for contacts to celebrities that would be willing to lend their name and time to the events so they are not just a flash in the pan as they are now.
 
The second question was mine.  He refused to answer it and when I redirected it, he again refused.  On the way out some of the students showed their thumbs up and came to say hello to me (incredible!).  The woman beside him even asked me right there what I did to contribute, and when I told her I volunteer, she asked where, I couldn't believe it! He actually mentioned the Tea Parties as a way for the right wing in power (he forgot about the Democratic control in both houses and the Presidency) to manipulate the anger of the people.
By bostonlily45 on 10/01/2009 at 7:44:08

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