Capitalism: A Love Story (M). Running time: 127 minutes. Director: Michael Moore.
It's a misnomer to describe Michael Moore as a documentarian. He makes documentaries only in the sense that Today Tonight does investigative journalism. His movies are entertaining first, with information and persuasion a distant second. Certainly they are unlikely to sway anyone who doesn't already agree with his general point.
That's not to say he doesn't land a few well-deserved kicks while he's at it. In his latest offering Capitalism: A Love Story, the recipient of Moore's sneakered toe is the corrupt philosophy that has underpinned, particularly, America's finance sector. The love of money is the root of evil, and following the collapse of the global economy under a weight of greed and unregulated markets, Moore is determined to chase the rats out of the rubble.
Moore's world is one of heroes and villains. George W. Bush is a villain. So is Hank Paulson, the former head of Goldman Sachs who, as United States Treasury Secretary, helped orchestrate the US economic bailout. Barack Obama, on the other hand, is a hero: yet to reach his full potential, but whose ability to inspire people to hope and to work towards a better world is an achievement in itself.
All the characters in Capitalism fall into similar categories. Among his villains are the real estate agent and self-proclaimed bottom feeder (company name: Condo Vultures) whose ignoble strategy is to target foreclosed homes, and the two Pennsylvania judges who accepted kickbacks for pouring kids into a for-profit juvenile detention centre.
Contrast them with the Michigan sheriff who refused to evict people from their foreclosed homes. Or the Chicago factory workers who lost their jobs in the midst of the economic crisis: refusing to be sent away empty-handed, they staged a good old sit-down protest and managed to secure the entitlements that were owed to them.
These are Moore's heroes. He advocates such grass roots action, and the rejection of apathy, as the only way to get the wealthy and powerful minority to take notice of the plight of the masses ('The peasants are coming!'). His rhetoric is profound, and stirring. And of course he stages a few of his own stunts to hammer the point home.
Some of the stunts miss their mark. In one, Moore attempts citizen's arrests of some of Wall Street's guiltier parties. Of course, he is not permitted into their buildings. So rather than