After a month of screen play, I finally got an opportunity to watch the movie “Capitalism: a love story”. I have heard a lot about it through media. Like all other Michael Moore’s movies, it is a controversial fact finding episode. Towards the end, election of Obama is shown with fanfare. Therefore, if we assume Obama (who is at the head of capitalism worldwide) the center point of the controversy, my perception is that people on the left of the president see this movie eagerly, and those on his right (perhaps including Obama himself) ban it! Moore's movies usually appeal to certain group of viewers, however this one is not as strong as his other projects. Michael Moore mentioned in an interview once that his views and the conclusion he intended to make had sometimes changed in the midst of some movie projects. For example in ‘Bowling for Columbine’ he stated that the conclusion he had in the screenplay was totally changed after some interviews for the movie. In ‘Capitalism: a love story’, it seems from the direction of the film that he had to make several adjustments to his original plan throughout making the film as well. It is not clear whether he is examining capitalism versus other “isms” (which he mentions once) or he is investigating those in the service of this system. Whatever the case may be, I do not think the title is appropriate.
The movie starts with a warning from an old clip that ‘the content may not be suitable for people with weak heart’. This style of humor continues throughout the movie, that is necessary after watching people’s calamities with insurance, jobs, salaries and housing. While we are reading the titles, some clips of bank robberies are played in the background. This sets up the genre of the movie which is about robbery. The bank robbery we witness is explained in reverse through the rest of the movie, meaning that the robbers are banks and large corporations and especially those who received bail out mondy, and the banks being robbed in the clips are American people. Some statistics are flashed at the beginning which indicates what the rest of the movie will be about. The rise and fall of Roman Empire is compared with today America. This is the only part of the movie that goes further than capitalism, and into imperialism. It reminds us of the book by David Mason titled: ‘The End of American Century’ where he discusses the rise and fall of US imperialism. Homes being foreclosed by banks, corporations cashing on the life insurance of their deceased employees, businesses closing and leaving their employees jobless, salary reduction (in the case of airline pilots) are themes of the movie. Wall Street, hobnob of capitalism, is investigated and their scams in making more money, such as derivatives, are discussed. We also see stock market being changed into a betting scheme like a casino game, introducing new gimmicks in guessing stock fluctuations in order to make more money. Michael Moore’s comic routine of trying to interview people in power who refuse to talk to him, citizen arrest, bringing money bags to banks to get people’s money back, and enclosing financial institutions with the “scene of the crime” tape derails his serious and thoughtful points from an investigative reporting to an entertaining show. Throughout the movie, the idea that rich is getting richer and poor is getting poorer and the widening gap and disparity between the rich and the poor is portrayed. Government institutions elected by people, such as congress, are also approached, and willing representatives are interviewed. The verdict is that our elected officials are either corrupted and bought out by big corporations, or they are a part of the dealing and wheeling with those government officials who represent large corporations and wealthy individuals. Of course in congress, like other government institutions, there is also a minimized, outcaste, and disabled minority. The movie shows clips of some demonstrations against financial institutions and the bail out, people’s resistance to leave the house they are evicted from, and closed down factory employees sit in. The final message of ‘Capitalism: a love story’ is for people to rise up to get their houses, jobs, and investments back.
The case that Michael Moore is making is not examining all the ills of capitalism as a political and economic system, but what it does to people when capitalism is unleashed and unregulated. He starts with a home made video clip of half a dozen police cars driving and forcefully entering a house by breaking the lock, with an order from the bank to evict residence of that house. The law is on the side of the capitalist system. This theme continues throughout the movie showing large businesses buying government officials directly, or through contributions (to Obama’s election campaign for instance). The movie does not show problems with a capitalist system, but a corrupted capitalist government. It also shows the good old days of the previous generation when laborers were among middle class and only one parent had to work to provide for the family. He contributes this to the chaos that was created after the war in Europe and Japan countries in which all their major industries were demolished, leaving the US to emerge as the only large industrialized nation. This notion is correct, although US supremacy goes back to the time of the war when the US converted all its manufacturing to arm manufacturing factories, in order to sell military hardware to allies, while European countries were destroying each other’s industries. If the nature of Capitalism was under the microscope, we would be briefed on the imperialistic competition in dominating nations with raw materials. Furthermore, we would be explained that US began its imperialistic wars shortly after its independence, which has been documented in detail in the book ‘Overthrow’ by ‘Stephen Kinzer’. The reason that capitalism has recently reached a dead end is inherit in its nature. In the past, wars, consumerism, stock market, credit card and loans (in another words buying on credit), interest rates, and many other tools open to the government revamped the system. Now it has already reached its outmost competitive point and surpassed it by stepping into the highest stage, cartels, trusts, and monopolies. Michael Moore has made a point however of the class warfare that is the result of government being controlled by corporations, since Ronald Reagan. Corruption can be traced from election process to the abuse of power by officials, and the love affair between corporate power and government. He examines the plans FDR had in his last year in office in order to make jobs, education, health, and housing as people’s minimum rights, to be guaranteed by the government. Michael Moore continues how European countries and Japan picked up on some FDR’s social agenda after the war, and how American government in its height of power ignored them. He interviews some of the people that he is targeting who in fact believe in the present system and honestly defend the system, such as the ‘Condo Vultures’ and the person from Wall Street who did not believe in democracy. Comparison can be made between these people and those government officials who have the same belief system, but pretend to be for the people at large. There are some optimistic points in the movie as well, when we see companies that are operated with the spirit of cooperation, and profits are shared equally among workers. This movie is not as strong as Michael Moore’s other movies which had a definite subject to be investigated, however it is a must see movie.
