Overall, I enjoyed Michael Moore’s “Capitalism: A Love Story” because it presented a ton of information, highlighted poignant stories, had great editing, and infused humor but I had two complaints being a slight bias and a lack of action for the audience.
To begin, I did enjoy the film overall. There was so much information in it from the beginning comparison of today’s US culture with the Ancient Roman Empire down to the very end with cool quotes interspersed throughout the rolling of the cast and credits. He shared a ton of numbers on CEO pay, net profits, foreclosures, loans, etc. Though it was a lot to absorb, he presented the numbers pretty clearly using several graphs and charts to compare and show the rise and fall of numbers. Some numbers did not need a visual though because standing alone they had enough of an impact; for example, he said something like every seven seconds a home is foreclosed in the US!?!
Just as impactful were the few poignant profiles he chose to go in-depth on, i.e. the fired workers staying in their window factory until they received their pay (which was only $6,000), the foreclosure salesman whose company was named after vultures and bottomfeeders, the evicted family who reclaimed their home with the help of their neighbors (I started to cry when I realized they were overjoyed for reentering a home that was small, dilapidated, and under furnished), and the family who moved out of their home and had to burn their own furniture to make money (only $1,000) from the bank who had basically stolen their property that had been in their family for decades. All of this broke my heart. I cannot believe this is America and that others are suffering so much while I am blessed with my current, secure and spoiled lifestyle.
All of these stories had more of an impact, in my opinion, because of his superb editing skills. The music building was fantastic as was the overlay of voices with older films whether they were of ancient Rome, his family growing up, or old ads.
Lastly, I also enjoyed the humor he added in to soften some of that saddening material. In particular, I laughed when I saw the doorman of one of the big Wall Street buildings physically pushing back on the lobby door to prevent Moore from entering, his unreeling of the crime scene tape around Wall Street, and when he informed the Wall Street men that he came to take back the money but he had other bags (with the dollar sign drawn on them) since he didn’t think 10 million would fit in just one.
However, I did feel that there was a little party line bias throughout the film, as to be expected with Michael Moore. Since that goes both ways, I suppose few Republicans gave him the opportunity to speak with them but I did notice a large selection of Democrat interviewees who probably tend to agree with his ideas. Furthermore, in criticizing the presidents, he went straight from Regan to Bush and left out Clinton – whether this was from lack of incriminating economic evidence or Moore’s decision to omit information, I don’t know. However, he was mostly biased against big banks and inefficient, deceitful politicians which I agreed with. For example, he did expose lies of Democrats including Chris Dodd so he was not incredibly one-sided.
The biggest issue I had with the film, however, was its lack of an action plan for the audience. His film, whether entirely true or altered with a bit of artistic license was undeniably persuasive. The problem is, those feelings fade pretty quickly after seeing the film and most audience members won’t take the time to figure out how to fight back on their own but they likely would if they knew how. I loved a statement he made near the end about how he refused to live in our country when it was like this and that he didn’t plan to leave our country, therefore implying that he would change it. He then invited the audience to change it with him but never said how. I know the film was already lengthy but I believe it lost a lot of its persuasive power by ending before listing a number people could call or a website they could visit or a list of who to contact to complain or what to do to have the most impact with your own money, etc.
That last bit of information would have convinced me more than anything else on how I would change my behavior in the future as a result of his film. Now I am just a little more afraid for the economic future of our nation. I’m also a little depressed at the condition of my fellow Americans who are living in tents or boarded out of their own homes or the people who do the boarding up for their living and face that ridicule or guilt everyday having to do that. I would feel more empowered and take action had he only told me how.
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