Contrary to popular myth, those that enjoy and appreciate the work of Michael Moore do not necessarily agree with everything he says. Moore’s thesis with Capitalism: A Love Story seems to be that capitalism is evil and as the prevailing, governing philosophy of the American economic system, it has to be torn down and replaced with something he’s not exactly clear on. Is capitalism a virus, or is it merely a susceptible operating system that makes it easy for viruses to develop and multiple if unchecked like Windows. Or perhaps, like its widely recognized antithesis communism, capitalism is a system that works better on paper, or a theoretical construct, than it does in practicality.
To Moore’s credit, Capitalism is a hatchet job and I mean that in the best possible sense of the word. It’s a scathing rebuke of the system that sucked up all the money it could, and when that system started to collapse, they ran screaming to the US government saying that without taxpayer money they, and everyone in the world that used currency, were doomed. “Doomed!” they said. Well doomed look pretty good when they took that stimulus money and reinvested it in private jets and corporate bonuses.
This is where Moore comes in. Of course he’s not going to get access to the CEOs, the CFOs or the Boards of Directors, and believe me he tries. (Although to be fair the odds of getting past rent-a-cops in the lobby when you tell them you’re there to make a citizen arrest on their boss are pretty slim from the word go.) Fortunately, stunts like showing up at the big banks with a dollar sign bag and a brinks truck or cordoning off Wall Street with police tape are kept to a minimum. Most of the two hour running time is a solid, and aside from the omnipresent voiceover, a mostly Moore-free indictment of a system that the filmmaker feels has cheated the very people it’s supposedly made to foster success with.
Much like his last film, Sicko, when Moore turns his cameras on the victims, he elicits tremendous emotional reaction from the audience. It’s tales like the one about the middle-aged couple in Indiana who not only literally lost the family farm when the bank foreclosed, but to add insult to injury, the bank hired them to clean out their home to be “sale ready” for the cool, collective salary of $1,000. If stories like these don’t tighten your colon you’re either a filthy rich bank executive or Mr. Potter from It’s a Wonderful Life. Moore puts a face to the problem that’s not his, though he still uses himself as voice and advocate for those with neither.
Moore draws parallels to his first film Roger & Me, which is interesting given that this is the 20th anniversary of that seminal film’s release and in retrospect now seems oddly prophetic (though not literally so as Moore seemed to imply). But Moore’s never been short on self-aggrandizing statements though, and that’s fine and I get it because that’s the guy he is and at least he’s driven by the greater good. But what we’ve seen since his Oscar win for Bowling for Columbine is a Moore that doesn’t rely as much on Moore to sell his arguments and ideas. With every film, he’s becoming more focused and more polished and generally just a better debater. In this instance as well, the subject matter plays right into his hands and Moore delivers hit after hit with every pitch.
With Capitalism Michael Moore clearly has the resources and the capability to make his arguments and make them stick. In a sad way, I think this is the material that’s been out there waiting for him, and the filmmaker definitely strikes this hot iron with all the force he can. Capitalism makes a deft and decisive argument and one can’t help but be somewhat persuaded whether you’re a wholly identified Moore acolyte or not. This is a solid film, impacting and timely. A must see for the active or the actively minded.
