Make no mistake, Moore makes his films for the American audience, yet “Capitalism: A Love Story” will stir the fury of anyone who’s been effected by the global economic crisis and will probably infuriate those who’ve somehow profited from it even more.Like almost all of his other films (“Roger and Me,” “Fahrenheit 9/11,” “Bowling for Columbine” and “Sicko”), Moore has no qualms about reducing his beliefs into one sentence that echoes throughout the entire movie, basically that “capitalism is pure evil.” He even talks to several American priests that validate his notion, and of course, the compassionate and humanitarian teachings of Jesus are obviously miles away from the “how can we increase our profit share” teachings that have transformed into a religion of their own.
Moore’s usual historic footage and news archives juxtaposed with individual stories from the heart of America are again at work here. And watching these stories of ordinary middle-class people being exploited by the headless machinery of corporations will freeze your blood cold in its veins. Here are several examples: a privatized juvenile detention center that unjustly locks up teenagers (who’ve barely committed any crimes) longer than their normal penalty after bribing several judges; the tragic story of an airline pilot whose plane crashes since he’s overworked due to working three different jobs because the salaries of pilots have been reduced by 40 percent in the past years to increase profits; the story of a Wal-Mart employee that Wal-Mart took out a life insurance policy on without the employee’s knowing. Apparently these life insurance policies are referred to as “dead peasant policies” -- when an employee dies for one reason or another, the corporations make a hefty profit from their death, and usually these profits are not shared with the family of the deceased. But probably the worst story comes from a family, like many others, whose house was foreclosed after the mortgage crisis in the US. The bank is shameless enough to hand out $1,000 to them to clean up the moving mess immediately after selling the foreclosed house to a third party.
Moore reminisces about the old days, especially his youth; his father used to be a GM factory assembly line worker in Flint, Michigan, and the man made enough money to send his kids to college. Moore asks: What happened to America? Why is the top 5 percent of the country richer than the other 95 percent’s incomes put together? What happened to the middle class American dream? In fact is there even a middle class anymore? What happened to job security and the right to live a decent life? The film digs up archived footage of Franklin Roosevelt trying to pass a second bill of rights that includes the right to free medical care and unemployment salaries. No wonder it’s been shelved.
But as one can guess from the title, Moore’s real target is Wall Street, including the major banks and finance institutions. Rightly so, as the $700 billion bailout of American financial institutions by the government using taxpayers’ money seems incomprehensible to him and several Democratic congress members. It is at this point that he grabs the attention of the viewer: In such a miserable economic state, why would such a large amount go back to the institutions that caused the economy to collapse in the first place? And yes, Moore pulls off one of his trademark stunts and tries to tape off AIG’s headquarters with yellow crime scene tape to make his point. It’s a climactic moment.
“Capitalism: A Love Story” is Moore’s latest plunge into promoting socialist values in his country through his customary cinematic style of agitation and provocation along with his oh-so-righteous voiceover. Of course he never says it loud, but he’s even pointing a finger at Marx. Like the previous “Sicko,” his reductionism to black and white, good and evil is at times disturbing and clearly sidetracks from the prevalent ethos of documentary in illustrating different perspectives of the parties involved. But one should not be surprised, Moore’s issues have never been about showing all sides of the story; the man is an activist with a cause. This time it’s to bring down the bad boys living the good life off the back of the average Joes. Pushing all cynicism aside, deep down you hope that he succeeds.
