In case you forgot about how, in spite of widespread public
disapproval, the banks responsible for America's biggest economic
crisis since the Great Depression bilked over 700 billion dollars from
the government on top of the billions they stole on "exotic" loan
instruments, Michael Moore is here to remind you. Since making
"Fahrenheit 9/11" and "Sicko," Moore has polished his humanist vehicle
of cinematic political agitprop to a glossy reflecting sheen with an
entertaining, touching, and informative movie that's worth repeated
viewings. Going straight for the jugular of free-market capitalism,
Moore visits with teens illegally sent to an outsourced detention
center in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania, talks to underpaid pilots–you
won't believe how little those highly skilled workers make–and visits
with people being forcibly removed from their homes in America's
foreclosure nightmare. But he really goes for the gusto of fitfully
equating democracy with socialism when he vists companies where every
employee owns an equal share, and then shifts gears to explore how
companies like Wal-Mart profit on the deaths of employees that the
company secretly takes out large life insurance policies on. Moore ends
the film by saying, "I refuse to live in a country like this, and I'm
not leaving." Take your friends to see this essential document of our
times, and talk about it so others can hear you.
Rated R. 117 mins. (A) (Five Stars)
