Muslim Lifestyle

Capitalism: A Love Story

Issue 71 August 2010

Review by Amir Rizwan

Marmite and Michael Moore have a lot in common with one another. Like the former, Moore is someone who, depending on your political outlook, you either love or hate. For those that love him, he has become a crusader for the ‘Average Joe’, while those who do not appreciate his work accuse of him of hypocrisy of the highest order. However, time and time again he has lifted his head over the parapet to tackle the big political issues of our time- courage that is worth commending.

In his latest instalment, ‘Capitalism: A Love Story’, Moore sets his targets on the capitalist system and financial behemoths who reside in Wall Street. The documentary begins with a high level critique of the capitalist system which emerged after World War II, with Moore pointing to individuals such as Reagan, Greenspan and Bush as the culprits behind the system that imploded so spectacularly.

It is the human stories Moore covers which provide the most engrossing and emotional scenes within the documentary. We are shown scenes in which people are evicted from their homes with nowhere else to go and entire factories close leading to mass job losses. His blend of wit and confrontational approach provide a worthy challenge to an industry once deemed untouchable.

Is the documentary all doom and gloom? Well there are certainly parts towards the end where Moore has decided to inject some hope that things could be changing for the better. For instance we are shown a scene where people in a community stand shoulder to shoulder with one another to stop a family from being evicted and factory workers barricade themselves in their workplace in order to demand what is owed to them. He certainly pins a lot of hope on the incoming Obama administration, especially with his powerful narrative of change. However, with many of the individuals from his administration being derived from Wall Street itself it remains to be seen what change will take place.