Guest guest Posted September 7, 2009 Report Share Posted September 7, 2009 http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/money_co/2009/09/director-michael-moore-now-want\ s-nothing-less-than-the-complete-overthrow-of-the-modern-capitalist-system--from\ -reuters-in.html 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 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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