DVD Review: Capitalism: A Love Story

Capitalism: A Love Story - An Alliance Films Release

http://www.capitalismalovestory.com/

DVD Release Date: March 6th, 2010

Rated PG for coarse language, and a mature theme.

Running time: 127 minutes

Michael Moore (dir.)

Michael Moore (writer)

Jeff Gibbs (music)

© 2009 Overture Films, LLC and Paramount Vantage, a division of Paramount Pictures Corporation. All Rights Reserved.Distributed exclusively in Canada by Alliance Films. All Rights Reserved.

Our reviews below:

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Capitalism: A Love Story Review By John C.

***1/2 (out of 4)

Michael Moore documentaries are always thought provoking and entertaining. His latest, Capitalism: A Love Story, his fifth feature documentary, is no exception.

Capitalism may jokingly be called a love story, but it is one filled heartbreak. It’s thought-provoking, terrifying, and strictly as a movie, if a little too long, actually entertaining.

Moore’s distinctive style shines through, and this is one of his finest achievements. It could perhaps even make Gordon Gekko rethink his motto. An excellent, powerful documentary, that is a must see.

The DVD includes a bunch of bonus features, all written and directed by Michael Moore.

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Capitalism: A Love Story DVD Review By Erin V.

***1/2 (out of four)

Michael Moore makes the subject of foreclosure and capitalism actually watchable, as he goes about his shtick of trying to get the money back from the banks in an armoured truck, arrest their board members, and close their buildings off like a crime scene. The documentary is also full of little videos that talk about the subject in a humorous way, while actually getting you to listen to the point he’s making. He also speaks to people who have been closely affected by the banks and about the large gap between rich and poor. He shows how the people who are sidelined, when standing together, can make change. It’s his balance in the film between humour and reality that make it keep holding your attention.

It’s a good film and my only real complaint is that at 2 hours and 7 minutes, it is a little bit long. Cut by 15-20, it would have held my interest that much more, but still this one is worth watching.

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Capitalism: A Love Story DVD Review By Nicole

**** (out of 4)

Once again, Michael Moore has created a thought provoking, funny, and informative documentary. This time, Michael Moore takes on capitalism. We are introduced to several people who have been hurt by financial greed. They include families who have been kicked out of their foreclosed homes, children who have been locked up in a shady private prison for trivial offences, airline pilots who are paid less than minimum wage, and shady companies that care more for money than people.

Michael Moore also interviews two Catholic priests and a bishop, asking the question "What would Jesus do?"

Told through interviews, spliced with arresting images of people losing everything they've got, as well as news clips, and clips of old films, Capitalism: A Love Story is fast moving and seldom drags. This documentary doesn't just depict the negative, but offers hope for the future. Moore shows us some of the brave individuals who have stood up against oppression and won. Capitalism: A Love Story calls everyone to create a world where everyone is treated equally fair. In our "me" society, this is an incredibly important film to see.

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Capitalism: A Love Story DVD Review By Maureen

***1/2 (out of 4)

Only Michael Moore could take topics like foreclosures, evictions, and layoffs and turn them into a highly entertaining and though provoking, hold nothing back documentary. Capitalism: A Love Story is brilliant. Narrated by Michael Moore, he uses interviews, footage of families being evicted, old film footage from the 1950's and humour to get his message across about the downfalls of capitalism. Essentially the film exposes how as big corporations and financial institutions get richer, the middle class disappears and the gap between rich and poor widens.

I like how Michael Moore explores the issue of capitalism from a religious point of view asking the philosophical question 'Is capitalism evil?' It's not often in this politically correct world that a film-maker dares to bring God into the equation.

Overall there is a sense of hope in Capitalism: A Love Story. Michael Moore's goal is to increase awareness and incite people towards a change in attitude.

Change comes from Knowledge. This would be a good choice for secondary and post-secondary students. Watching Capitalism: A Love Story is a great way to learn and be entertained for two hours.

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Capitalism: A Love Story DVD Review By Tony

***1/2 (out of 4)

Capitalism: a Love Story is the latest documentary by Michael Moore. Rather than focusing on a specific issue such as guns or health care, it ambitiously challenges the very basis on which the American economy has been increasingly based over the last 40 years or so. The postwar prosperity due to American industrial dominance free from the competition of war-ravaged Europe and Japan supported a strong middle class of unionized workers producing goods for a comfortable lifestyle. As industries started to decline in the 1970s, the brightest young adults were attracted away from industry and into the financial sector where corporate greed led ultimately to such egregious practices as derivatives (sheltering executive bonuses on the backs of small investors), condo vultures (flipping foreclosed homes at enormous profit), “dead peasant” insurance policies (leaving the families of dead employees with massive medical bills while their employers collect on their life insurance), and subprime mortgages (luring high-risk borrowers into mortgages with temporarily low interest rates). The overall result has been an increasing gulf between rich and poor, gutting the middle class. A proposed worker’s bill of rights by FDR died with him and when Jimmy Carter preached against the consequences of corporate greed he was met with the same public indifference as the biblical prophets, replaced by the eager embrace of the glib optimism of Reagan and later Clinton, who doesn’t fare much better in Moore’s view. The systematic deregulation of financial institutions by successive financial cabinet secretaries taken from the executive ranks of the biggest banks helped inflate the bubble which finally burst within weeks of the 2008 election when, all facing the polls, the congress was railroaded into passing the huge bailout. There is some guarded optimism at the end of the film where some little people begin to fight back, with token encouragement from the new president.

Capitalism: a Love Story is an effective look at how capitalism has trumped democracy in recent years. Interspersed with the usual hard luck cases of foreclosed families and laid off workers is footage from vintage educational films on the values of capitalism and the decline of the Roman empire, as well as Moore home movies from happier times. In an amusing sequence taken from a cheesy biblical epic, the doctrine of capitalism overdubs the voice of Jesus. Though a bit long at just over two hours, the film doesn’t drag, though we could have done without the typical Moore stunt at the end where he drives up to corporate offices in an armoured truck to take back the money and make a citizen’s arrest of the executives, to be met as usual only by bemused security guards. However, the final shot where he surrounds the big Wall Street buildings with yellow police tape leaves a memorable image.

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Consensus: Capitalism: A Love Story, though perhaps a bit too long, is another interesting and entertaining documentary from Michael Moore. ***1/2 (Out of 4)