At this point in his career Michael Moore has transcended his role as
a filmmaker and turned himself into a boisterous character of his own
making. Much like Sacha Baron Cohen transforming into Borat or Brüno, as soon as the cameras are on Moore fully embraces his role as a bleeding heart liberal anxious to embarrass America's higher-ups and rub the country's nose in the mess he feels it has made. By interjecting himself into his films, he has cost himself the ability to make an honest-to-goodness documentary. For example, midway through Capitalism: A Love Story Moore calls one of the many rich, powerful men he has been lambasting to request an interview. Not only does Moore not get the interview, the secretary hangs up on him as soon as she hears his name. His character has become so one-sided that he couldn't even tell the other side of the story if he wanted to.
More after the jump...
a filmmaker and turned himself into a boisterous character of his own
making. Much like Sacha Baron Cohen transforming into Borat or Brüno, as soon as the cameras are on Moore fully embraces his role as a bleeding heart liberal anxious to embarrass America's higher-ups and rub the country's nose in the mess he feels it has made. By interjecting himself into his films, he has cost himself the ability to make an honest-to-goodness documentary. For example, midway through Capitalism: A Love Story Moore calls one of the many rich, powerful men he has been lambasting to request an interview. Not only does Moore not get the interview, the secretary hangs up on him as soon as she hears his name. His character has become so one-sided that he couldn't even tell the other side of the story if he wanted to.
More after the jump...
Capitalism: A Love Story is filmed in typical Moore fashion: heart-wrenching stories of Americans being wronged juxtaposed with tales
of the powerful people that could help them and yet do nothing. From
the family who lost their home in the mortgage crisis to the airline
pilots who make so little they qualify for food stamps, and to the factory workers who were laid off with no pay, Moore laments the loss of the working middle class and stops just short of suggesting communism. He points out how greedy corporations are and recounts how presidents' policies have affected the economy. He traces the roots of major corporations back to politicians and takes a few jabs at his favorite punching bag, George W. Bush.
Maybe its the journalist in me, but I want a documentary with a little
more integrity. Moore has damaged his credibility so much that even a young, open-minded liberal like myself thought the storytelling was so slanted that I found myself skeptical of the interviewees. I couldn't
tell if he was really shining light on a serious problem or if he'd
gone out and found some crazies that would give him a few good sound bites. It's a shame he's done this to himself because Moore has a knack for finding compelling personal stories and setting them against the harsh realities of whatever he is attacking at the time.
By this point his act has grown tired and old. Capitalism is exactly
like Bowling for Columbine or Fahrenheit 9/11 just with a different
subject matter. Moore is so repetitive in his filmmaking that he
played a four minute excerpt from a movie he made in 1989 (Roger &
Me). His sensationalist tactics are nothing new, and rather than leaving me outraged they had me thinking “well of course they won't let you do that, you're acting like a crazy person.”
Capitalism: A Love Story makes several good points and is worth seeing if you're interested in the subject matter. I chuckled several times and enjoy listening to people tell their story when it wasn't being narrated by Moore. Unfortunately, just like his other films, the movie is more of a sensationalist propaganda piece than a thoughtful
documentary.
--Mark Collins
of the powerful people that could help them and yet do nothing. From
the family who lost their home in the mortgage crisis to the airline
pilots who make so little they qualify for food stamps, and to the factory workers who were laid off with no pay, Moore laments the loss of the working middle class and stops just short of suggesting communism. He points out how greedy corporations are and recounts how presidents' policies have affected the economy. He traces the roots of major corporations back to politicians and takes a few jabs at his favorite punching bag, George W. Bush.
Maybe its the journalist in me, but I want a documentary with a little
more integrity. Moore has damaged his credibility so much that even a young, open-minded liberal like myself thought the storytelling was so slanted that I found myself skeptical of the interviewees. I couldn't
tell if he was really shining light on a serious problem or if he'd
gone out and found some crazies that would give him a few good sound bites. It's a shame he's done this to himself because Moore has a knack for finding compelling personal stories and setting them against the harsh realities of whatever he is attacking at the time.
By this point his act has grown tired and old. Capitalism is exactly
like Bowling for Columbine or Fahrenheit 9/11 just with a different
subject matter. Moore is so repetitive in his filmmaking that he
played a four minute excerpt from a movie he made in 1989 (Roger &
Me). His sensationalist tactics are nothing new, and rather than leaving me outraged they had me thinking “well of course they won't let you do that, you're acting like a crazy person.”
Capitalism: A Love Story makes several good points and is worth seeing if you're interested in the subject matter. I chuckled several times and enjoy listening to people tell their story when it wasn't being narrated by Moore. Unfortunately, just like his other films, the movie is more of a sensationalist propaganda piece than a thoughtful
documentary.
--Mark Collins
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