Capitalism: A Love Story

Editorial

Glib to suggest, but if the GFC had not happened, Michael Moore would have invented it. The portly pot-stirrer loves nothing more than shovelling salt on the gaping wounds of the American Dream, and the unprecedented financial meltdown of the past few years offers Moore the kind of glaring launchpad he must dream about.

Not that the documentarian can be accused of being anti-Uncle Sam or taking pleasure when he's proved right by the suffering of millions of his fellow Americans. But his impressive passion for raging against the top end of town is a natural fit with the collapse of capitalism.

While Capitalism: A Love Story is sharper and less schmaltzy than Sicko, Moore's fondness for smug fairytale-ish narration, generalisations presented as fact, and cheap shots, remains.
Because audiences have to carefully sift through Moore's hyperbole, tenuous links and snide remarks, the many insightful and damning points he raises about the failings of the "free enterprise" system can be diminished.

They shouldn't be, because the second half's analysis of Congress's bail-out of banks, contrasted powerfully against retrenched factory workers striking for their rights, indicates how we all should have more Moore in us, to erode our ineffectual apathy.

However, too much Moore is the first half's biggest challenge, as he thickly lays on battlers, barbs and brushstrokes to needlessly manipulate the favour of the converted he's megaphoning to. The biggest difference between this Love Story and his earlier polemics is Moore's referencing of Christian morality and teachings as a better alternative to the "evil" of capitalism. Could cryptic final remarks about being unable to "keep doing this" be pointing to a change in the pulpit Moore will use?

Hilton Thomas