“Capitalism is evil” Concludes Latest Michael Moore Film
By Ane Howard
–More a call to action than a documentary, the latest Michael Moore Film ‘Capitalism: A Love Story” aims and exposes corporate greed in America and workers’ pervasive sense of hopelessness to improve their financial situation. Using his usual blend of sardonic and in-your-face humor, the 55-year-old Moore point-blank compares Wall Street’s shakers and movers as gamblers playing with the common man’s money to satisfy an ever-growing appetite for wealth.
Poignant and effective personal testimonies of ordinary people losing their homes, under growing debts, archige footage and publicity stunts pepper the film to make one point, the rich gets richer and the poor gets poorer under a capitalism regime. During one such interview a recently unemployed trucker, states “there has to be some kind of rebellion between the people who have nothing and the people who have it all.” There lays Moore’s hope for financial betterment, in a workers’ and also middle-class awakening and demands for changes from the power at large, may it be a branch of government, financial institutions or corporations.
“Essentially we have a law which says gambling is illegal but we’ve allowed Wall Street to do this and they’ve played with people’s money and taken it into these crazy areas of derivatives,” Moore told a sympathetic audience at the Venice Film Festival where it showed on Sunday, September 6.
As in previous movies, Moore gets confrontional with his target, banks and hedge funds. One instance, Moore drives up in a big armored truck to AIG (and various other banks) claiming to be here “to make a citizen arrest of the Board of Directors” and asking for ‘our money back.”
Where is the money? is asked Elizabeth Warren by Moore, Congressional Oversight Officer, “I don’t know” is her answer.
The film is in competition for the Venice Film Festival’s Golden Lion Award.
In theaters nationwide October 2.