A pair of blinding white NewBalance shoes, a megaphone, several rolls of yellow crime scene tape, and an armored truck spell one thing; Michael Moore is back again.
Moore’s newest movie “Capitalism: A Love Story†is a brutal attack on the economic system that sustains our nation.
While the movie’s sporadic plot, poor attempt at humor, and failure to identify the changes needed to make the situation better detract from the movie, it still exposes some of the harsh realities of capitalism to those who live a comfortable middle class life.
Moore’s thesis is that greed in capitalism has made the economics of America only about money. The human factor in the Untied States has gone by the way side and economic decisions are made by the ultra rich to maximize profits, no matter the cost.
Moore feels that the world has turned into a great divide where the rich bathe in profits, while the rest are left barely getting by.
Moore’s story begins in his hometown of Flint, Michigan, where he recounts the demise of the city through the slow shutdown of its main employer, General Motors.
From there Moore loses his focus and finds random stories of how capitalism has ruined American lives.
His investigation includes the stories of several young teenagers who were wrongfully incarcerated by a for-profit juvenile rehabilitation center, airline pilots on food stamps because of their dwindling pay, and factory workers who were refused pay because of their companies’ poor credit.
The most interesting of these stories involve life insurance policies that numerous large companies take out on their employees called “dead peasant†insurance. When employees die, companies cash in, and families never see any of the money.
Together, these stories make an illogical and biased case against capitalism. However, by themselves, the stories truly put a face on the negative effects of capitalism. With the push of a button, CEOs and other executives can make decisions that truly ruin lives of innocent Americans.
Overall, these depressing stories leave viewers angered at the current system.
Although Moore alludes to the importance of voting he still leaves most questions unanswered.
Who should people vote for? What changes need to be made? What system would work better than capitalism? All are left untouched.
Furthermore, Moore loses his credibility by not only failing to even recognize the opposing view point but also his flawed attempt at humor.
With a five-minute exposé on how Jesus wasn’t a capitalist, Moore attempting to make a citizen arrest of Wall Street executives and Moore standing outside of the major U.S. banks with money bags and a megaphone demanding the tax payer money back, Moore only makes a fool of himself.
It seemed like it was more like a YouTube video than a full-scale movie. Overall, Moore makes some astute points, but his outrageous behavior and illogical arguments don’t add up.
Really this movie is just like all of the other Moore movies. So if you liked Moore in the past, you will like him this time around. And if you didn’t, well, don’t bother.