I went and saw Capitalism: A Love Story on Monday night at a free screening. I like Michael Moore’s movies. He’s heavy-handed and has a tendency to exaggerate, but he does it for the right reasons. The worlds apparent apathy means he needs to exaggerated in order to get anyone to move.
The point that I found resonated the most with me is that the working class allows the rich to treat them like this because they’re optimists. Everybody is waiting for their ship to come in, so they work like dogs thinking one day they’ll get their share. Insert film reference:
“There is only one Lord of the Ring, only one who can bend it to his will. And he does not share power.”
It’s a well made film, creating a bit of a rollercoaster running your emotions through shock, anger, shock, pity, shock, amusement, and back to shock again. I will say that there is about half and hour in the middle that didn’t need to be there.
As an Australian, it’s tempting to say “Pffft. Good thing I don’t live in America” but I think that about as short-sighted as you can get. Australians are just as vulnerable to propaganda, and we’re just as guilty of voting in the corporate lapdog as the US.
Just something to think about.
Moore's work is always an interesting watch, I end up feeling like "Yeah, it's biased and heavy handed, but if even a quarter of it is true, we're in deep shit."
ReplyDeleteI'm looking forward to seeing the film soon.