Film Review - Capitalism - A Love Story (2009)

BOTTOM LINE: Engaging as always, if not as feisty, Michael Moore delivers another biased and heavily opinionated commentary, this time on capitalism, and manages to deliver some insightful food for thought, even if it does not always stand up under scrutiny.

THE GOOD: Michael Moore has made an entire sub-genre for himself of heavily opinionated and biased political commentary on various issues affecting American society and culture. In "Capitalism: A Love Story", Moore takes aim at the system that brought America to its knees during the global financial crisis by tracing it back to its origins and the insidious ways those with power have been tricking those without to keep them in power. Moore is surprisingly restrained in his anger this time out. Although he does not hold back a punch, he does construct sequences that have a slower and more subtle build, which in many instances, have a stronger effect than say any scene from "Fahrenheit 9/11" where he just bashed you over the head with his ideas. The film's opening credits are intercut with well edited security video footage of dim-witted bank robbers hitting banks. Moore then follows this up with an old documentary serial on the downfall of the Roman Empire intercut with stoic American images and landmarks. Without saying anything in his own words in these scenes, Moore gets across many worthwhile ideas, likening the United States to all the imperial powers of the past which eventually self-destructed under its own opulence and lust for power; whereas Rome had slaves, America has the poor that are exploited by the wealthy and powerful. Moore indulges in some of his own commentary in criticising the Ronald Reagan and Alan Greenspan years, but the best material in this film comes when Moore interviews the everyday people on the street who were affected not only by the crisis, but the cold-blooded behaviour of banks wanting to foreclose on those who cannot afford repayments. It is hard not to feel the inequity at play in these scenes, and as with his other films, Moore generates a strong case for their plight. "Capitalism: A Love Story" is perhaps a more mature execution of Moore's beliefs. He is biased and opinionated, but he will make you stop and think about the topic, even if you disagree with him.

THE BAD: In taking a more restrained approach, the feistiness and biting cynicism that made some of Moore's earlier work so funny and entertaining is not on show here, which is unfortunate. At times, this can be a slower affair because of the lack of bite, with some sequences dragging on a bit. One might also question how much "filmmaking" was actually done in the film, considering so much of the footage provided was shot by someone else, but then again, this is a criticism of most of Moore's work, and his technique of using the footage of others is quite effective in illustrating the points he wishes to make.