Capitalism: A Love Story
 

Maybe this thread should be in the business/financial forum...but has anyone seen this?

I'm halfway through this movie right now...

I give it a 2/10..it's full of fallacies and it's very irritating
Now I'm starting to doubt the facts of his other documentaries

I think only poor, uneducated Americans will love this movie

I haven't seen the movie myself but could you elaborate more on your thoughts in more detail please? Thanks.

Michael Moore paints this picture:
the banks are trying to take the houses from the poor old people
but the reality is...if you take a second mortgage on your house and don't pay, you will be foreclosed on...

Another good example: Corporations taking out insurance policies on their execs...
In the movie, Moore exposes Walmart for taking out insurance policies on their store level employees.. (Good for him, I do despise Walmart)
However, he then names major banks that have taken out policies on their employees...but he doesn't explain that it's actually neccessay in some cases..some corporations suffer if they lose one of their executives

^whats wrong with taking out insurance policies for employess?

there's nothing wrong when they're KEY employees...
you NEED them to run your business...

but Walmart (USA) was taking out policies on their minimum wage employees....

You lasted half-way? The movie is downright terrible. It tries to act like an informative documentary but with a slant so huge, it comes across as zeigeist-like.

A movie to avoid if you want to retain your braincells.

^
That bad, huh?

I haven't seen any of Moore's films as of late.

Yeah, for me it was.

But who knows. I know a shit load of people who like Zeitgeist and treat that piece as gospel. So there might be just some people who will appreciate this movie. Probably people who's looking to be mad about something.

I think we're on the same page. I've always found critical/off-the-edge documentaries by filmmakers such as Moore or Naomi Klein et al. tend to provide an extreme alternative opinion or idea, presenting it to the ill-informed which suddenly acts as a shock tactic, swaying minds as easy as leading a flock of sheep to their doom.

While I do appreciate that there are films out there that can provide a second opinon (if you can even call it that :lol ) it takes some real inquiring minds to be able to make their own judgements and to be able to form an educated opinion. I take such documentaries with a grain of salt anyway. I love it when the VIFF is in town because there's always a plethora of such documentaries and films being showcased and when you go see one, the reactions and attitudes of some people suddenly change. :D

I managed to watch the whole thing
There are some truths... ie. Walmart taking out large insurance policies on their regular employees...
also..I do respect William Black, who was interviewed in the documentary..

But like I said, it was very irritating to watch
it was very one-sided and Moore left out a lot of relevant information...

I didn't think it was that bad personally. Was it slanted? Yes. Let's be honest here Michael Moore makes popcorn documentaries.

What is good about his movies is that they bring attention to broken facets of our society that so many do not pay attention to. Sicko was also slanted, but there were a lot of truths.

The current economic system we have is clearly broken, along with financial policies, especially in the United States. I welcome more documentaries such as this one that at least gives some of the less informed out there a bit of a wake up call.

^Agreed. Moore's docs are all about the working class and how they're effected by the actions of different "systems" ie, healthcare, banking. This creates is of course going to create a pretty slanted/bias film. Clearly, Moore has no interest in presenting corporation's sides. You gotta have a villain in a popcorn flick.

Truths?

Truths as to how a bank foreclosed on a family's home because the family failed to pay their mortgage? The movie did a fair job laying the guilt trip on pretty thick by briefly going over that he is unable to work due to an accident, but really doesn't go over why he doesn't have a nest-egg? Or that he couldn't find employment in a field that doesn't aggravate his injury. He seemed fine during the film but apparently not fine enough to work? Woe to the average joe eh?

The truth in how a lower class families are being evicted from their home because they don't pay rent? Again the movie did a fair job laying the guilt trip down with their poverty but for the multitude of private landlords here who own a 2nd or home, or rent their basements out, this movie is not going get sympathizers no mater how poor they are.


I have no qualms when MM gets into unionized groups grievances against their employers but I've seen so many Norma Rae movies and stories that this wasn't really a ground-breaking revelation by the movie. But the above two that made 75% of the first 30 minutes I watched was absolutely an insult to intelligence that I couldn't bear any more.

i saw this long time ago, it ain't as good as sicko or bowling or some of his other better documentaries but it was ok. I took the movie with a grain of salt. it is a tad dry but then what do you expect.

well it is sad when people are misinformed about their mortgage and just got into debt in a way. it is a bit slanted but still a decent movie to learn or see a few things that's happening in the world.

Misinformed or not, banks don't foreclose your home immidiately after 1 missed payment. They do send out notices to reconcile your balance before foreclosing; so it's not really "all of sudden, one is homeless." And you don't really need the know the fine print to know that no mortgage payment = no house.

Again, MM is trying to be avante garde by denouncing our western society's capitalistic inclination, but he didn't really go on to say that "without mortgage, those families would never had a house to begin with to lose." Very convenient ommission by Moore.

Maybe some banks are guilty of bait and switch..by offering a very low introductory interest rate and then jacking it up after the term is over...
however, MM did not mention this at all..

And I hated the way he "tried" to ask people to explain what derivatives are..
when explained properly, people will understand...and they are not always a bad thing