It says something about the state of Hollywood when one of the year’s funniest, most dramatic and most engrossing films is a documentary about economics.
It also speaks volumes about the state of a county’s deregulated financial sector and its own government when the reality of events is more shocking than anything a scriptwriter could conjure.
Capitalism Shows Shocking Corporate Practices
Michael Moore’s Capitalism: A Love Story could easily be about the mortgage crisis alone, but its thesis is capitalism is a flawed system because by definition it encourages profit above all else. The movie is not an attack on capitalism specifically, or money or even wealth, but rather the measures to which some will go to enrich themselves and the effect this has on the majority of the population.
A woman’s husband dies of cancer and she later learns her husband’s company took out a life insurance policy on him and collected a settlement of more than $1 million dollars. A family is evicted from their home and upon removing all the items from the property and disposing of the refuse are given a check for $1,000. The reason they are being paid by the same bank who is evicting them is because it’s cheaper for the bank than hiring a professional cleanup crew. There are more personal stories, but Capitalism’s best and most shocking moments are when it visits historical events preceding the current state of the U.S. economy.
Source of Current Troubles are Rooted in History
Franklin Delano Roosevelt speaks to the nation about the Second Bill of Rights, which would guarantee every American a good education, adequate medical care, “protection from the economic fears of old age, sickness, accident and unemployment,” and more. This obviously did not happen … at least here, but after some countries drew up new constitutions following World War II, similar rights were granted to the citizens of Germany, Italy and Japan. Much of Europe, as anyone who gives reputable newspapers even a cursory glance knows, offers its citizens what F.D.R. envisioned.
Unlike Moore’s 2003 documentary Bowling for Columbine, a scattered and inconclusive exploration of the culture of guns and violence in America, Capitalism posits a theory, and its theory for why America’s clearly disparate capitalist system continues as it does it because the people live with the hope and assumption they will one day be at the upper echelon. This is a theory which isn’t wholly original (Bill Maher mentioned a similar concept on his show Real Time With Bill Maher) but it’s one which is shared by too few. Jimmy Carter is shown speaking as president to the nation about the culture of consumption, a speech which didn’t cause much change in the country. Ronald Reagan, who led the charge against regulation in the 1980s, is shown at the New York Stock Exchange giving a speech prior to the opening of the market. While he’s speaking a man standing beside him leans closer and tells him to speed up. The man giving instructions to the president was not one of his chief advisers or a member of the secret service, but Don Regan, president of Merrill Lynch, who served as treasury secretary and White House chief of staff. The footage is a darkly funny and poignant glimpse of how much power the financial sector has over government.
History plays a major role in the documentary and themes of rebellion and revolution are present for much of it. A Citibank memo literally expressing the concern the company had over the fact while the wealthiest 1 percent owned more than the bottom 95 percent combined, they were outnumbered at the voting booths. Moore links the election of Barack Obama to the change in thinking of the public, who may be starting to realize they’ve not only been the victims of a corrupt system, but have also been instrumental in helping to facilitate it.
The film’s last segment involves scenes of workers protesting against a company shutting down without providing them with due payment and citizens demonstrating against the avarice by some in the lending industry. It’s a call to arms and a welcome one too.
Chaz Holmes - I am a 27-year-old journalist with a passion for pop culture. During the day I write for a local newspaper in Washington state, but when I ...
