Posted on 10/01/2009 9:15:46 AM PDT by kellynla
The Oughts have been good to Michael Moore. The decade following his hit 1989 documentary Roger and Me was one of middling achievement, but the election of George W. Bush changed all that. Moore’s Bowling for Columbine (2002), Fahrenheit 9/11 (2004), and Sicko (2007) rank as the sixth-, first-, and fourth-highest-grossing documentaries of all time. Columbine won the 2002 Academy Award for Documentary Feature. Fahrenheit took home the Palme d’Or, the top honor at the Cannes Film Festival. Sicko got Moore investigated by the U.S. government for possible violations of the trade embargo against Cuba — what higher honor could you bestow upon a wannabe proletarian revolutionary?
Since then, the party in power has changed again, but Moore’s movies have not. His latest, Capitalism: A Love Story, features the same belligerent barrage of one-sided stories, sloppy statistics, ironic stock footage, ominous music, exploitative interviews, awkward confrontations, and flaccid pranks that we’ve come to know and love. Moore attacks capitalism with the ignorant fury of King Kong, flinging angry accusations at corporate drones, clinging to a romanticized version of the American past, grunting “What the f — happened?” and “Capitalism is an evil.”
The audience bears the brunt of this assault. For over two hours, Moore grabs any stick near to hand to beat up on his intended target, and the result is disjointed and disorienting. The movie starts with a cheesy 1950s-style disclaimer urging those with weak hearts or young children to leave the theater, as if anyone who came to see one of Moore’s films would be shocked by what comes next. The opening credits roll over security-camera footage of bank robberies in progress. Moore associates the taking of property at gunpoint with free markets, not with taxation. Are you shocked yet?
Actually, no one who has spent even a minimal amount of time listening to the far Left’s whingeing will be surprised by what Moore serves up: America is Rome, too distracted by chariot races (NASCAR) and gladiators (ultimate fighting) to notice that we’re being exploited by a corrupt, moneyed elite in the service of a ruthless emperor (Dick Cheney). The people who are losing their homes because of the collapse of home prices didn’t do anything to deserve it — if they treated their houses like ATMs, it’s because infinitely greedy Wall Street CEOs and their minions tricked them into doing it.
Moore’s explanation of the financial crisis is just as trite and familiar. Back in the day, unions and high taxes made America awesome (with the exceptions of racism and Vietnam), until the voters decided that Jimmy Carter was a buzz-kill and replaced him with a B-movie actor. The actor turned out to be a puppet of corporate America who oversaw the “wholesale dismantling” of the country’s industrial infrastructure in the pursuit of “short-term profits,” and also because he hated unions and feminists. The result? “Millions thrown out of work,” which led to stagnant wages, which led to an explosion of consumer debt, which, combined with banking deregulation, created — bingo! — the current financial crisis.
There is nothing new about this narrative, which conveniently absolves Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, and the affordable-housing lobby of any blame for the meltdown. These institutions must be let off the hook because, according to Moore, every American has the right to a home, per FDR’s Second Bill of Rights. This concept of positive rights colors every one of Moore’s stories of foreclosures. The families facing eviction aren’t borrowers who failed to live up to their end of a contract. They’re Americans whose right to own a home is being violated.
Moore’s attack on capitalism goes beyond the financial crisis. Following his any-stick approach, he adds unrelated examples of corporate malfeasance to his indictment. One such tale involves a for-profit juvenile-detention center in Pennsylvania whose operators allegedly bribed two judges to give kids longer sentences, thus increasing revenues to the facility. This is a despicable crime, but it is a crime. The men involved are facing long prison sentences of their own. It might come as a shock to Moore, but political corruption predates capitalism and exists in every country on earth. Except Cuba, of course.
Near the end of the film, Moore gives us what he thinks is the ultimate illustration of the failure of capitalism: a shot of the flooded Ninth Ward after Katrina. I looked around the theater and was dismayed to see so many nodding heads. The Ninth Ward flooded because a government agency, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, despite a surfeit of funding, failed at one of its most basic tasks: the maintenance of floodwalls around the city of New Orleans. In the real world, government was almost entirely to blame for the man-made component of the Katrina disaster. But in Moore’s universe, up is down, and capitalism is to blame for everything.
At one point Moore’s anti-capitalist fervor takes a literally holier-than-thou turn. In a bit of voice-over narration, he tells the audience that he once considered entering the priesthood because he admired the church’s commitment to helping the poor. Moore interviews several priests and bishops, some of whom share his view that capitalism is evil and none of whom think capitalism is good for poor people. At no time does anyone mention that some of the most impoverished places in the world remained that way for centuries, despite the Catholic Church’s ministry there, but have become developed countries in the last few decades by instituting free-market reforms.
Moore’s hatred of capitalism blinds him to the fact that no other economic system in the history of the world has proven as effective at reducing poverty. It does, however, guarantee a win-win for him personally. If Bush’s departure diminishes the public’s appetite for Moore’s shtick, he can blame capitalism for failing to reward his genius. If, on the other hand, Capitalism draws big numbers to the box office, conservatives will have no choice but to meet Moore halfway: Any system that remunerates such dreck is not without its flaws.
At least he’s not a hypocrite! I read somewhere that Michael Moore gives away to charity damn near all the millions of $$$ he makes with his capitalistic anti-capitalist enterprise.
He is practially broke, and he lives the frugal introspective life of a trappist monk. Well, except he obviously doesn’t miss too many meals.
...
OH NO WAIT! I DIDN’T READ THAT ANYWHERE! I MADE IT UP!
In reality, turns out the sorry son of a b!tch IS a major hypocrite!
“Fahrenheit 9/11” was only a hit because MoveOn.org sent out emails demanding their members attend. No actual Americans would have paid to see Moore’s crap...even to get buttered popcorn.
Michael Moore is a flash in the pan piece of s#it not even worth considering.
Move on, folks.......nothing to see here!
Militant
I can’t stand Michael Moore, myself.
Lets “redistribute” his millions to the masses, put him on a forced diet, and give him crappy government healthcare ala Cuba which he loves so much.
Moore’s hatred of capitalism ???
Au contraire, mon amis
‘Find a need and fill it.’
Moore is using ‘capitalism’ to sell his ‘sh*t’ like any good capitalist does.
‘A fool and his money are soon parted.’
Apparently there is a market for stupidity.
The economic system we have now is hardly Adam Smith’s ‘capitalism’, more like ‘corporatism’. We haven’t had a good economic model since FDR, (or 1913, maybe) where all participants in the economy play on an even field. The government is too involved in picking the winners and loosers.
Here is what he said at a different time different place
“I’m a millionaire, I’m a multi-millionaire,” he proclaimed. “I’m filthy rich. You know why I’m a multi-millionaire? ‘Cause multi-millions like what I do. That’s pretty good, isn’t it? There’s millions that believe in what I do. Pretty cool, huh?”
http://www.arcataeye.com/old/top/020312top02.shtml
Sorry to appear so shallow..........but...dear God... just look at the man...
so much fat...so much blubber....
I have fought weight for years...and have no preducice toward people , who, like me who love to eat....
BUT !! It appears this guys fat cells have taken up permanent residence in his brain...
Until he forfeits all proceeds from this pice of crap movie, he is a hypocrite not woth listening to.
Oh yeah! he IS a hypocrite not worth listening to.
Next film Michael Moron attacks obesity and gluttony
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.