Michael Moore's "Capitalism: A Love Story" hits the cinemas

Considering Michael Moore's taste in topics, the economic crunch for him is a perfect blend of vanishing ethos, and the victimized regular American citizen. After Fahrenheit 9/11, and Sicko, in his most recent documentary, “Capitalism: A Love Story”, the director has come out blazing guns at the most volatile subject in the nation today. A scathing critique of the current economic system, he talks about the credit crunch, the housing collapse, the wall street fiasco, and the epic U.S government bailout.

“Capitalism” is about:
The documentary's limited opening in New York And LA broke records by having the highest per screen average for any movie this year. The great response it has got has made the studio more optimistic about its release on a larger scale.

In a trademark Moore manner of “love it or hate it” attitude, this time he talks about how the power houses' relentless greed made the country reach this dilapidated state, almost reminiscent of the great depression. The blame of this debacle has been put on the banks and other financial institutions.

He says, "Here's how it worked. First, tell these home owners that they own a bank and that bank is your home. And you can use your bank to get more money. Just refinance! Everyone is doing it. Of course, hidden in the dozens of hundreds of pages of fine print are tricky clauses that allow the bank to raise your interest rate to a number you didn't know about. Perhaps so high, that you won't be able to repay your loan. But that's O.K. If you can't repay it, we'll just take your house."

His words are accompanied by the footage of people in Middle East being brutally evicted from their houses due to deceptive mortgage policies.

Moore has said that the right to vote is people's most powerful weapon against abuse of power. He tries to get a reaction from the nation by making them see in the movie how their rights are being violated.

"There's got to be some kind of rebellion between the people that have nothing and the people that's got it all," he says.

Criticism:
The movie has a very obvious emotional component, and it gets preachy in between. There is a certain heart felt touch he has provided to his sermon like approach this time. There is a scene of a pre-adolescent Moore listening to the idea of an American dream in his living room. There are shots of him with his father near the factory where he worked 30 years ago, and which has now been shut.

This is not Moore trademark, and the deviation might not go very well with his obvious supporters.

The movie is also being called ambiguous, as unlike his previous attempts, this time the scope is much larger and difficult to cover in one medium.

The movie if full of over the top Moorism. For example when he knocks at the doors of the corporate giants demanding answers and explanations. "Stock markets crash, bankruptcy, foreclosures, a global meltdown and the government bails. By spending just a few million dollars to buy Congress, Wall Street was given billions," he says.

Towards the end, the movie seems to be about a Moore who has given a lot of himself into the movie but has lost touch with objectivity at the same time.

"I've done this for 20 years, and I'm tired of dancing around it," he said. "You know, make a movie about General Motors here, make a movie about the health care industry there. These are all spokes to the hub. And that hub is capitalism."