Power to the people

Capitalism: A Love Story
Written and directed by Michael Moore
Starring Michael Moore
Rated R
*8*
Goes well with: Sicko, Fahrenheit 9/11, Roger and Me

I might as well fess up. I’m a member of the choir to whom Michael Moore’s been preaching all these years. Sure, I sometimes have problems with his filmmaking techniques, but more often than not, I agree with his message. I think he’s right when he says that the incompetence and arrogance of the Bush administration allowed the bad guys to literally get away with murder on 9/11. I’m on board when he posits that the American healthcare system is unbelievably screwed up, possibly beyond repair. And, as he says in his new film, Capitalism: A Love Story, I’m convinced that the government allowed the same rich, fat, white bastards whose unbelievable greed and hubris decimated the entire global economy to roll their trucks up to the back of the treasury and loot the place, under the watchful eye of Hank Paulson and his overlords, George W. Bush and Dick Cheney.

Capitalism comes 20 years after Moore’s first film, Roger and Me, and in some ways it’s more disjointed than his previous projects, but it’s because he’s taking on a topic that’s larger than anything he’s gone after before. His basic premise is that capitalism is evil, and then he tells you why. His evidence is based not just on the recent fiscal crisis, but also on the last 30 years.

No matter what you think of the hefty lefty, he has stones, and he takes on the right’s golden calf. No, not Jesus. We’re talking Ronald Reagan, whose election tilted the balance of wealth in this country toward the side of those who already had much of it. Almost no one assails Reagan, who won the Cold War while selling out the poor people of the world at the same time.

The biggest issue with Capitalism is its theatrics. Moore bantering with a Goldman Sachs security guard doesn’t have nearly the impact as the individual stories he uses to illustrate his points. That’s always been the strongest dagger in his films, and it’s no less true in Capitalism. There’s the family being paid to clean out their own home—by the bank that’s foreclosing on it—simply because they need the money. And there are the families whose employers—banks, Wal-Mart—took out life insurance on their loved ones, who subsequently died and created a payday for these corporations. But there are also inspirational moments, stories of communities standing together against corporate interests, like the neighborhood that gets between a Florida family, re-occupying their foreclosed home, and the police, who decide it’s not a fight worth fighting. Best of all is the story of the employees of a Chicago factory, who bolt the doors after Bank of America shuts it down without back pay or severance. Their actions are inspiring, but it’s when the community rallies around them, bringing in food and supplies, that you feel like the common people are finally a force to be reckoned with.

Moore is an angry man. But he’s angry about the things we should all be angry about. You don’t like him or his politics? Fine, but unless you’re among the 1 percent that owns the bulk of the nation’s wealth, you should listen to what he has to say. Why? Because guys like John McCain think you’re middle class if you make less than $5 million a year. Because guys like Chris Dodd took sweet loans from Countrywide. And because the country is controlled by obscenely rich guys just like them, and because your vote is just as valuable as theirs—or, it would be if you lived in a swing state.

Moore thinks the reason we don’t rise up against the rich is that we still believe in the American dream, that we all have a shot at the giant mansion, or at least a gated community. Well, my American dream is millions of Americans marching down Wall Street chanting “Whose Wall Street? Our Wall Street!” beheading any billionaire who stands in our way. I think some well-coifed heads, starting with Bernie Madoff and Henry Paulson, jammed onto pikes in front of the New York Stock Exchange would go a long way to curbing excessive executive compensation.

But that’s just me, and it’s possible that I’m just preaching to the choir.

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