Capitalism: A Love Story–Interview with Michael Moore

On the 20-year anniversary of his groundbreaking masterpiece Roger & Me, Michael Moore’s Capitalism: A Love Story returns to the issue he’s been examining throughout his career: the disastrous impact of corporate dominance on the everyday lives of Americans (and by default, the rest of the world). But this time the culprit is much bigger than General Motors, and the crime scene far wider than Flint, Michigan. From Middle America, to the halls of power in Washington, to the global financial epicenter in Manhattan, Michael Moore will once again take filmgoers into uncharted territory.

Inspiration for the movie

In America, people tend to wait for the coast to be clear before openly discussing certain topics and saying certain things. Even if it’s right in front of our noses and people sense that something’s gone terribly wrong—they go with the flow. They adjust and accept mediocrity, get comfortable and settle in. Most feel that if they just keep their heads down and their noses to the grindstone, they’ll squeak by. But someone has to speak up.

Goals

My goal is to address the questions that have been forming in my head for some time and that I believe our society needs to address as well. It’s not the job of the artist or the musician or the filmmaker to follow the crowd. Politicians won’t change anything on their own. It doesn’t make any sense for them to be courageous; that’s too risky. It’s the people that need to make them change. Then, once the truth emerges, those who scoffed and sneered will turn around and sound an awful lot like the lonely people they once ridiculed.

Shooting

We began production in the spring of 2008. But in reality, this is the movie I’ve been making for the past twenty years. Since Roger & Medebuted in 1989, there have been common threads and ideas present in all of my projects.

Capitalism: A Love Story is not just a continuation of that, it’s the culmination.

Recent financial meltdown

I don’t think it’s really a mystery who’s behind this financial collapse. There’s been a lot of anger directed at the banks and financial institutions that hijacked our economy and gambled it away. And at the politicians who allowed it to happen… Don’t get me started.

This film is not about a boom or a bust or a bailout. I started working on this before the economy tanked and before I had any idea there would be a massive looting of the U.S. Treasury a month before a Presidential election. I don’t focus on one individual, or company or issue; this is the big enchilada. This film takes on the system that allows, encourages and, most importantly, guarantees this corruption.

Government’s role, or who’s to blame

There isn’t enough Purell hand sanitizer* in the world todisinfect Washington. This film names names, and goes after both parties without fear or favor. Every political discussion degrades into liberal against conservative and Democrat against Republican. That’s just a distraction from the real issue: the system we operate under owns both parties and both liberals and conservatives. There are some loud and bitter arguments between the two parties, but they are all looking to stay in power and the last thing they want to do isrock the boat. This film will address the issues that are not being debated in Congress or on the Sunday morning talk shows (which are brought to you by Boeing, AT&T, Archer Daniels Midland, ExxonMobil…).

*This is not an endorsement for Purell. I’m sure the pharmacy-brand hand sanitizers work just as well and are a little bitcheaper.

Capitalism: A Love Story–Interview with Michael Moore

PROFESSOR / CRITIC / AUTHOR