Review of Capitalism: A Love Story (2009) by Lorenzo V — 26 Feb 2011

"This is capitalism. A system of taking and giving... mostly taking.".

Capitalism: A Love Story examines the impact of corporate dominance on the everyday lives of Americans (and by default, the rest of the world).

REVIEW.

Michael Moore's latest project doesn't just go after Bush, or health care or General Motors... he goes after the very foundation of American economy... the system of capitalism itself. A very bold film that is sure to alienate, he gives it his all.

I was more hesitant about this film than any other Moore has made, afraid that his tendency for hyperbole would go overboard on this very controversial topic. But, I must say, he was actually more reserved than usual, stuck to his facts, and made what may be his best film yet. That, and it has a video clip from Parry Gripp, so that can't be a bad thing.

Alan Greenspan, Robert Rubin, Larry Summers, Timothy Geithner are presented as "people who get promoted because they're willing to say absurd things" rather than the correct thing. Goldman Sachs and Treasury Department are seen as having a revolving door between them. It is not a stretch to say that government is populated very heavily by the corporations they should regulate, be it in finance or elsewhere.

We hear of pilots making minimum wage, having to give blood and work second jobs -- despite holding hundreds of lives in their hands each day. We are told of life insurance on employees ("dead peasants" insurance) which once covered important people but now can extend to the lowest of employees... gambling on death.

Moore presents another idea: worker-owned businesses and co-ops. He says that democracy and capitalism are not compatible. (He uses "democracy" as a euphemism for socialism, but his point is that majority-rule democracy should not lead to minority-rule capitalism.) Is he right? I don't know... his views weren't as radical as I expected, and even if his solutions aren't correct, he highlights the problems like no other.