Moore's 'Capitalism' Goes for the Gold

Honoring Those Who Battle Corporate Greed, Documentarian Says 'People Can Revolt in Good Ways'

(AP)  Michael Moore says his film "Capitalism: A Love Story" is dedicated to "good people ... who've had their lives ruined" by the quest for profit.

After many a successful debut at Cannes, Moore premieres the film Sunday in his first appearance at the Venice Film Festival. The movie won was warmly received at a press showing Saturday evening and won positive reviews. Variety called it one of Moore's "best pics."

"I am personally affected by good people who struggle, who work hard and who've had their lives ruined by decisions that are made by people who do not have their best interest at heart, but who have the best interest of the bottom line, of the company, at heart," Moore told reporters Sunday.

The film features plenty of examples of lives shattered by corporate greed - but also some inspiring tales of workers who have rebelled.

According to Moore, "the revolt you think I am calling for has actually begun. It began Nov. 4," when President Barack Obama was elected.

There are the Chicago glass and window company whose employees barricaded themselves to demand their pay after management laid off all 250 employees when the bank line of credit dried up.

On the side of greed, Moore tells the story of a privately-run Wilkes Barre, Penn.-based juvenile detention center that paid off judges to lock up juvenile offenders. One boy said he had done little more than throw a piece of meat at his mother's boyfriend during a fight at the dinner table, and a teenage girl's offense was making fun of her school's vice principal on a Myspace page.

The film is filled with classic Moore gimmicks, like wrapping crime scene tape around landmark banks and Wall Street institutions. And there is the expected Moore grandstanding as he tries to make citizens arrests of bank CEOs, not getting past the sometimes amused security guards at the main entrance. By now, everyone sees him coming and knows who he is.

Moore said he considered himself a proxy for the "millions of Americans who would like to be placing crime scene tape around Wall Street."

The filmmaker is optimistic that unimagined change can happen, citing the unexpected fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989, and Nelson Mandela's election as the president of South Africa after 27 years in prison for his anti-apartheid activism.

"There are many things that have happened in the last 20 years that are just utterly surprising, so that I now believe anything can happen. People can revolt in good ways."

Slide Show: Inside the Venice Film Festival
66th Venice Film Festival (Official Site)
"Capitalism: A Love Story" (Official Site)

Moore said his expose on the health care system, "Sicko," helped trigger "a national debate about why we are the only Western industrialized country that does not have universal health care."

While "Capitalism" has a strong political message, Moore's said his main purpose is to entertain with a film that "makes you laugh a little, or cry, or think. I am happy with all those results."

(Left: Moore beckons in "Capitalism: A Love Story.")

But he acknowledges that his mass appeal allows him to reach even nonbelievers, a luxury enjoyed by few on the left.

"I am going to use that position to try to communicate not just to the church of the left but to the average, everyday American who wants to go see a good movie, and maybe gets something out of it at the same time."

"Capitalism: A Love Story" is competing for the Golden Lion, which will be awarded Sept. 12.

[jschmidt27]

doc- so how much of Moore's profits is he giving to charity? And we all have an agenda. Mine is to have an honest and efficient govt which we haven't seen in a while and certainly are not seeing now.

[doc_holliday76]

by meritandability:
"The man himself is the biggest Capitalist around."
-----------------------------------



Seems as if you have a reading comprehension problem, since the topic and Moore's documentary is about:


(AP) Michael Moore says his film "Capitalism: A Love Story" is dedicated to "good people ... who've had their lives ruined" by the quest for profit.

"I am personally affected by good people who struggle, who work hard and who've had their lives ruined by decisions that are made by people who do not have their best interest at heart, but who have the best interest of the bottom line, of the company, at heart," Moore told reporters Sunday.
---------------------------------




Simply put, this is not just about "capitalism," but hard-working people's lives that have been ruined by endless GREED and PROFITS by corporate America that does NOT have ordinary people's interests at heart.

BIG DIFFERENCE between endless GREED and capitalism, especially when it comes to average Americans, just like Moore's movie "Sicko," which featured many Americans that already had health insurance, but were destroyed by the capitalistic system of endless GREED and PROFITS!

[hungry1968-16]

by jschmidt27 September 7, 2009 11:41 AM EDT
Trillion- it is not the right wing that has drunk Obama's kool aid. Granted both sides have the sheep but the Dems are losing the independents with the power grab and the backlash is in full force. So enjoy Moore's slap at capitalism but remember it is capitalism that supplies jobs, puts food on the table, and provides profits for growth of 401ks and pensions. So fell good about making Moore richer. He didn't pledge to give profits of the movie to the unemployed did he? No Dems don;t part with their money to charities as much as Republicans.







Bwaaaa haaa haaa haaa!!!!

Don't tell me that you actually believe any of this nonsense!!!

[jschmidt27]

Trillion- it is not the right wing that has drunk Obama's kool aid. Granted both sides have the sheep but the Dems are losing the independents with the power grab and the backlash is in full force. So enjoy Moore's slap at capitalism but remember it is capitalism that supplies jobs, puts food on the table, and provides profits for growth of 401ks and pensions. So fell good about making Moore richer. He didn't pledge to give profits of the movie to the unemployed did he? No Dems don;t part with their money to charities as much as Republicans.

[doc_holliday76]

by jschmidt27:
"So enjoy Moore's slap at capitalism......."
---------------------------------




Sorry, but it's not a slap at "capitalism," but about hardworking Americans that have had their lives ruined by the endless GREED and PROFITS of corporate America capitalism.

Huge difference, but then again, you and your ilk have an agenda!
----------------------


(AP) Michael Moore says his film "Capitalism: A Love Story" is dedicated to "good people ... who've had their lives ruined" by the quest for profit.

"I am personally affected by good people who struggle, who work hard and who've had their lives ruined by decisions that are made by people who do not have their best interest at heart, but who have the best interest of the bottom line, of the company, at heart," Moore told reporters Sunday.

[trillion1]

If most people felt like the rightwing Moore's movies wouldn't make a dime. Of course the rightwing can't have anything which is thought provoking. They want sheep.

[babooph]

If he were more attractive,or had some great heroic credentials,he would likely be assassinated.His work is really good,not all must agree with it of course.

[kevjustice]

Moore was the person that significantly exposed the abuses of the health insurance industry in his film "Sicko". He is the Ralph Nader of our era.

[oiaf0831]

Now he's the Karl Marx of our era. I wish him well.

Finally a man who speaks up for the people.

[skepticalJM]

Haven't Seen it, but I applaud it! Go Moore! Sock it to 'em!

[oiaf0831]

What was skeptical about that?

[cbsblogger]

Greed is good...just ask CNBC or any of the grossly overpaid Wall Street casino workers. They thrive on removing trillions of capital from the capitalistic system while providing zero value added.

[jschmidt27]

Obama has brought in czars which are essentially advisers that do not have to go through the Senate approval process as cabinet members do. These czars should not be in charge of anything. This is an abuse of power. Van Jones sunk himself and Obama has gioven ethics waiver to may in his adminstration. He promised an open and clean adminstration and it is anything but. But what d you expect since Pelosi promised the same things and all you have is ethics challenged officials such as Dodd, Rangel (washington post called for his resignation as Chair), Waters, Frank, Conrad, Murtha- quite a crew. These are the people that are deciding policy in this country. They are not ethically qualified.

[oiaf0831]

One thing confuses me about this movie.

Now that Obama is the president, isn't Moore really attacking President Obama, because he is the leader of the capitalist nation?

I hope Moore is not making any such racist attack.

How does he attack our current government without attacking president Obama?

I'm hoping he just blames it all on Bush and says Obama has been in office less than two years, so nobody can expect him to clean up all Bush's mess in such a short time.

I will be watching closely for my chance to see this move.

I hope Mr. Moore does not disappoint me.

[alphaa10000]

CLARITY OUT OF CONFUSION

olaf0831, possibly more than one thing confuses you. But that is OK, since it opens the mind to new possibility.

For example, get used to the idea Obama is actually willing to work with you and the GOP on a variety of public concerns-- concerns that are in your interest.

Obama is trying to look beyond partisanship to a future that will outlive either party, a future in which we all have a stake.

In your comments, you repeatedly use the word "attack"-- "attacking President Obama"... "racist attack"... "attack our current government"... which suggests you have a peculiar fascination with conflict. But Obama is not really about that, because he was elected on a broad consensus for change. Americans want to move beyond gridlock and the past.

But in bringing about change and reform, it helps to remember, we create what we imagine. Obama has extensive experience bringing people of different interests together. Obama brought a commitment to practical measures, the kind that transforms daily life for everybody.

In the process, Obama works with the established powers in Washington, which includes your own congressmen and even industrial lobbies. You might say, everyone who really wants to be part of it can play.

This is real change over the past. As Tom Delay and others repeatedly had made clear, to play, all had to pay into a one-party exclusive system of patronage.

In bringing about reform, Obama not only must repair a system, but engineer changes-- a two-fold operation that is much more complex than applying a fiscal patch, and looking the other way.

So, you are correct to expect this process to take much longer than it took to bring the overloaded, dysfunctional system to collapse. But it is time well invested, and simply must be done.

[kevjustice]

Helen keller,Mark Twain, and other famous people in history had strong leftist leanings. Things were really bad decades ago. Try reading a book called "The Jungle".

[oiaf0831]

Has anybody heard about the new Republican smear campaign? Now that they brought down Van Jones, they are looking for a new victim, I'm sure.

Has anybody heard about the organized "laugh ins" at showings of Moore's film when it arrives in USA theaters?

It would be extremely rude and disruptive if neocons snuck into the theaters and all started laughing in unison during the film.

I hope the ushers will deal very firmly with any political extremists who try to disrupt the movie.

[jschmidt27]

Every single payer system has problems with low pay for doctors and hospitals losing money. The current bills have cuts to medicare. What hospitals currently are profitable or breaking even. A public option would lead to a single payer system as Congress would continue to make the public option cheaper to win votes. Here is what change we need:
Single claims system used by all insurers. Streamline regulation between states and Fed to eliminate duplication. Streamline Fed drug approval process.
Let employees buy their own insurance using some part of employer provided funds. Promote wellness programs similar to used by Safeway and Whole Foods. Force insurers to sign up all that apply and not drop people based on claims. Tort reform to reduce malpractice costs. Adequate funding of hospitals for medicare reimbursement. Promote nursing programs. Computerize all records. Govt can provide incentives to reduce admin costs.
Japan Healthcare problems http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/sickaroundtheworld/countries/


Japan concerns- In fact, Japan has been so successful at keeping costs down that Japan now spends too little on health care; half of the hospitals in Japan are operating in the red. Having no gatekeepers means there's no check on how often the Japanese use health care, and patients may lack a medical home.
Humana - large health insurer- 2.2% profit. So you may want to back up those arguments that insurance companies are making large profits.
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/08/28/health/policy/28insurer.html?scp=2&sq=humana&st=cse

The govt should be the last resort. It has never run a program efficiently or within budget. We should push this change to extremes.

[nycprof]

TO jschmidt27,
Okay, so lets just throw out all of the data. There may be variations on how the data is collected from one country to another, but the data clearly show that our health care system is awful and is due to the lack of a govt option. FYI, we also spend more, per person than any other country in the world and are still 33rd in health care.

[jschmidt27]

Let's look at the infant mortality compared to France. We count every infant delivered. The French only count those delivered after a certain number of weeks and only if they are viable at birth. So be careful using stats. They can be manipulated very easily to prove whatever you want.

[jschmidt27]

Let's look at the infant mortality compared to France. We count every infant delivered. The French only count those delivered after a certain number of weeks and only if they are viable at birth. So be careful using stats. They can be manipulated very easily to prove whatever you want.

[nycprof]

Wow, the right wing brainless nuts are coming out for this one. Attack the messenger, not the message, that is the right wing nuts only way to deal with facts.

For example, Moore's last movie Sicko. The right wing was being its typical self of being willfully ignorant and attacked Moore instead of looking at the facts. Unlike what Fox TV says that we have the best health care in the world, here are the facts.

We are in fact ranked between 33rd and 38th in the world in overall health care.

Our infant mortality rate is 33rd lowest in the world, higher than in Cuba!! (in other words, 32 countries have lower (which is better) infant mortality rates than us.

For life expectancy, we rank 50th!!!

These are the facts, look them up. I expect that Moore?s new movie will also provide facts and substance, laced with some humor and grand standing. But hey, that is entertainment.

I would suggest we all take a deep breath and stop getting duped in by Fox TV and the right wing radio hate mongers. We are the only industrialized country not to have a some sort of govt run health care and look where we are. Also the next movie will show how the excesses of capitalism has made our country the most inequality when it comes to wealth of any industrialized country. I happen to be one of those 99% who has not see our income rise since Reagan, while the top 1% have more than tripled. Which group are you?

[itgranny]

Wow, this thing got really goofed up. i really did only hit the button once.

[jschmidt27]

The website dups every reply. No I wouldn;t watch his movies to make him richer.

[nycprof]

Wow, the right wing brainless nuts are coming out for this one. Attack the messenger, not the message, that is the right wing nuts only way to deal with fact.

For example, Moore's last movie Sicko. The right wing was being its typical self of being willfully ignorant and attacked Moore instead of looking at the facts. Unlike what Fox TV says that we have the best health care in the world, here are the facts.

We are in fact ranked between 33rd and 38th in the world in overall health care.

Our infant mortality rate is 33rd lowest in the world, higher than in Cuba!! (in other words, 32 countries have lower (which is better) infant mortality rates than us.

For life expectancy, we rank 50th!!!

These are the facts, look them up. I expect that Moore?s new movie will also provide facts and substance, laced with some humor and grand standing. But hey, that is entertainment.

So perhaps these reality challenged, willfully ignorant people can just open their minds for a moment and look at the facts first, and listen for a change and try to learn, perhaps we can all work together to make this a better country.