Capitalism: A love Story is a 2009 documentary created by the renowned film maker Michael Moore. This film explores the Western Love for Capitalism, more specifically when the economy crashed in 2008 and what has been done moving forward to ensure such events do not happen again in the future. This is a critical account of many of the things that are wrong within the capitalist system which is essentially What the United States is built upon and the rest of the Western World. As a result Michael Moore investigates Wall Street which is considered by many to be the financial capital of America, in the film we see how people who work there took a Casino mentality to money and the companies in which they worked for were de-regulated to the extent where they were running out of control, lending money that would never be re-payed to make short-term profits.
Not only does Capitalism a Love Story look into the mechanics behind the financial crisis and why it failed, it also tells the story of some of the victims behind the financial equilibrium before and after the crash which is instrumental to the message given in the documentary. Some companies had an unbelievable influence over the government such as Goldman Sachs so they could make huge profits, while many average citizens were being paid criminally low wages and expected to pay over the odds for medical care and other essentials. Scandals have existed for many years under capitalism however one that is highlighted in the film is “for profit” prisons which ultimately get paid more money when people are held there for longer. What is shocking about the for profit prisons is that they were actually paying off judges to hand hefty sentences to people for petty crimes, especially young and vulnerable so they could satisfy their greed while others suffered unjustifiably. This adds to Michaels Moores hypothesis that capitalism is not always a good thing and needs to at least be regulated.
Capitalism a Love story was launched in the United States and Canada on October 2nd 2009 and at the Cannes Film festival the previous year to a huge audience who were anticipated to see Moores' latest creation. Despite people expecting a follow-up to the critically acclaimed documentary “Farrenheight 9/11” Capitalism a Love story also gained a reputation as a hard hitting documentary aiming to “expose the biggest swindle in American history”. The website Rotten tomatoes holds a rating of 75% for the film which shows the opposing opinions people hold against the film but ultimately it’s message is one that is well constructed and well thought out.
