Director Michael Moores Capitalism - Essay Example

Director Michael Moore’s Capitalism: A Love Story, a 2009 American documentary, portrays some of the dark sides of capitalism through snippets of well-thought-out interviews and historical events that led to present-day capitalism in the US. The movie throughout has flavors of humor and sarcasm as Moore himself conducts personal interviews and analysis.
Recollecting 1989, when autoworkers in Flint, Michigan, were protesting against layoffs, the movie fast forwards 20 years when the issues are still the same. To find an answer to how capitalism has impacted people’s lives in the US, Moore visits the nation’s capital, asking average American people how they are doing keeping economic needs and aspirations in mind. The movie starts with footage of an armed robbery. Interestingly, one of the robbers was in the clutch. Viewers are then introduced to a few shots from a film named ‘Life in Ancient Rome,’ as Moore shows some more recent symbols of American power, including the Metropolitan Opera House at Lincoln Center wrapped with its usual stardom.
I appreciate the way the movie continues to gradually refine with another hour and a half of alternating sobbing and smirking remarks by a cross-section of the audience. Included in that cross-section are actor and writer Wallace Shawn who defines free enterprise. Some of the recorded opinions are welcome and greeting, till they succeed to talk freely without provocation from sidesplitting Mr. Moore. Despite invocating ancient Rome, the story more realistically starts post-World War II, which is the period from which the movie will examine issues of capitalism categorically.
Moore presents himself as an “Everyman” whose relatives benefited from the postwar middle-class prosperity. I agree with Moore when he represents a collective dream of a happy and prosperous future that came under a difficult phase during the time of the Vietnam War. This is followed by a snippet of grim-faced Jimmy Carter, warning about the threat of idolizing self-indulgence and consumption. The movie then portrays the rise of Ronald Reagan’s policy, which led loose the bull of free enterprises in the widest sense. It was during Reagons’s time when corporate gained more power and unions debilitated. Moore calls tax cuts and household debt a “spokesmodel for the president.” Cut in tax rates led to a rising in household debt in the US. During covering such moves, shots from “Roger & Me,” Mr. Moore’s first film, are also included.
The movie has many instances of scenes in which people interviewed were victims of the greed of their employers. One instance of an employee whose wife was insured without his knowledge made a big chunk after the death of the woman, often called death peasant insurance. Incorporated in the movie is the ‘casino mentality’ of Wall Street and the influence of Goldman Sachs in Washington.
The movie examines why young people are more attracted to finance than science. Perhaps tilt towards a luxurious life along with fat salaries that executives in financial corporate houses like Goldman Sachs and Price Waterhouse Coopers allure many to join them in the mad race that led to the financial crisis of 2008 in the first place. In his course of query, Moore visits offices of big financial corporate houses trying to learn about ‘derivatives’, and ‘credit default swaps’ from financial executives. Interestingly, a past Vice President of Lehman Brothers, Marcus Haupt, could not explain such terms convincingly to Moore in the movie. In the run-up to the crisis, the director also explored the role of Alan Greenspan and the US Treasury Department. A few members of Congress including Ohio Senate member Marcy Kaptur covered and agree with Moore that the bailout package by the Obama administration was illegal. Read More