declares all-out war on capitalism

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declares all-out war on capitalism

September 6, 2009 | 12:48 pm

Director now wants nothing less than the complete overthrow of the

modern capitalist system.

From Reuters in Venice today:

Capitalism is evil. That is the conclusion U.S. documentary maker

comes to in his latest movie " Capitalism: A Love Story, " which premieres at the

Venice Film Festival Sunday.

Blending his trademark humor with tragic individual stories, archive footage and

publicity stunts, the 55-year-old launches an all-out attack on the capitalist

system, arguing that it benefits the rich and condemns millions to poverty.

" Capitalism is an evil, and you cannot regulate evil, " the two-hour movie

concludes. " You have to eliminate it and replace it with something that is good

for all people and that something is democracy. "

's long-awaited film, which will open in L.A. and New York on Sept. 23 and

nationwide on Oct. 2, is in part his post-mortem on the global financial system

crash that began a year ago this month with the collapse of brokerage Lehman

Bros.

But the film takes on much more than the usual cast of blood-sucking bankers to

make the case against capitalism, delving into unrewarded worker productivity,

vultures who make their living off foreclosed homes and horror stories from a

privately owned juvenile correctional facility in Pennsylvania.

Time magazine's Corliss writes from Venice:

" Capitalism: A Love Story " does not quite measure up to 's " Sicko " in its

cumulative power, and it is unlikely to equal " Fahrenheit 9/11 " in political

impact. In many ways, though, this is 's magnum opus: the grandest

statement of his career-long belief that big business is screwing the

hard-working little guy while government connives in the atrocity.

As he loudly tried to confront General Motors CEO in " & Me " in

1989, and pleaded through a bull horn to get officials at Guantanamo to give

medical treatment to surviving victims of " 9/11, " so in " Capitalism " he attempts

to make a citizen's arrest of AIG executives, and puts tape around the New York

Stock Exchange building, declaring it a crime scene.

But Corliss also questions whether 's call for a grass-roots revolution can

make it past the theater exit door:

At the end says, " I refuse to live in a country like this -- and I'm not

leaving. " But this call to arms demands more than a ringleader; it requires a

ring, an engaged citizenry who are mad enough not to take it any more. That's

unlikely to happen. 's films are among the top-grossing documentaries in

history because they are pertinent populist entertainments. The question

remains: Will " Capitalism: A Love Story " rouse the rabble to revolt? Or will

audiences sit appreciatively through the movie, then go home and play the

cat-in-the-toilet video?

More reviews of the film from Venice screenings are here.

-- Tom Petruno