CAPITALISM: A LOVE STORY (director/writer: Michael Moore; cinematographers: Daniel Marracino/Jayme Roy; editors: John Walter/Conor O’Neill; music: Jeff Gibbs; cast: Marcy Kaptur, Franklin Delano Roosevelt, Wallace Shawn, Bernie Sanders; Runtime: 127; MPAA Rating: R; producers: Michael Moore/Anne Moore; Overture Films; 2009)
“It’s tragic, funny and informative, as Moore sets his sights on the banking industry and the paid-off weasel politicians who put the fix in to deregulate Wall Street.”
Reviewed by Dennis Schwartz
Provocateur Michael Moore (“Sicko”/”Fahrenheit 9/11″/”Bowling for Columbine”) is entertaining as always as he conducts his first-person hectoring attack on capitalism (such as hilariously turning up on Wall Street with crime scene tape) and is on the money in exploring the causes of the global economic meltdown and in wagging his finger at those wealthy capitalists who exploit the public with their corruption and unquenchable greed. It’s tragic, funny and informative, as Moore sets his sights on the banking industry and the paid-off weasel politicians who put the fix in to deregulate Wall Street and through corporate shenanigans pull off the biggest robbery in America’s history and then manipulate the Congress to get the US taxpayer to bail these thieves out while leaving the innocent vics without support in their hour of need.
The freewheeling spin against the evils of capitalism is an impassioned plea for the American public to wake up and use their vote to put in office some honest representatives, even if they’re socialists. It’s a populism piece with agit-props that are passionately potent, but probably like Moore’s other films its caveats against evil-doers will only be preaching to the choir. It’s hard to see Americans– indoctrinated from childhood on capitalism–embracing a cuss word like ‘socialism.’ But who knows, maybe the public will wake-up and find out that this economic meltdown might be a harbinger of worse things down the road and demand that their representatives act in their best interest instead of being bought off by lobbyists!
The combative Moore, as always the court jester, ends the pic saying “I refuse to live in a country like this, and I’m not leaving.” There is, of course, the danger that the mostly solid message by Moore will be diverted by all the attention focused on him. But since hardly any other films are on this vital subject, Moore’s loud chatter, failure to examine President Obama’s part in the bail-out and simplistic responses to more far reaching problems is, probably, better than just fiddling while the country burns down.
REVIEWED ON 11/7/2009 GRADE: B
Dennis Schwartz: “Ozus’ World Movie Reviews”
© ALL RIGHTS RESERVED DENNIS SCHWARTZ