Capitalism: A Love Story
Dir: Michael Moore
2009
*****
Michael Moore just can't seem to win. After his previous documentaries he has been accused of inciting paranoia, manipulating the truth for his own gain, tastelessly using gimmicks to get his points across, lying, being pretentious, being unpatriotic... the list goes on but he seems to be a 'You either like him or you don't' kind of guy. I think it comes down to this; you either agree with what he is saying and believe something should be done about it or you trust everything that governments and large corporations tell you. I know which side of the fence I stand on and when you want to communicate with the masses, sometimes you need to get their attention by being a little different and if that means turning the tables or using easy to understand gimmicks, then so be it. Do you think he's ever gone after a totally innocent politician or corporate executive? If you do I'm guessing your on the other side of the fence. Capitalism: A Love Story, I believe, is his best film to date. The gimmicks are pretty much gone, the facts are straight forward and un-sensationalist, it sometimes feels as if he's grown tired of not being listened to but I think this is actually because the subject matter is so important to him, indeed it should be important to all of us. I didn't need Mr. Moore to tell me half the stuff I heard here, I knew about it already and have read up on the subject. Who you blame for the financial crisis depends on what part of the world you're from but who is really behind it is explored loud and clear in the film. It's not unpatriotic or other such nonsense, it's fact and Moore is telling it like it is for our benefit. Once again, he has since been proven right and is ahead of the game, this film was released in 2009 but will never loose its relevance and is an important document of the times.