WHAT'S ON BRITSKÉ LISTY

Moore's film "Capitalism: with love" shown on British TV

24. 5. 2010 / Jan Čulík

Nevertheless, certain parts of the film are simply shocking. As some British person who saw the documentary wrote in the forum related to the picture:

"That movie is frightening and the exact same thing is now happening in Britain. What will be the next step? Take away from us, common folk, our voting rights?";

"That film should be shown in schools, so that young people will not become victims of that capitalist catastrophe, which has been created by the elites in power".

Why can't we find some grant agency, which would organize the distribution of the DVD with Moore's film to Czech high schools and also put together with it public discussion forums among the kids? What about the People in Need organization (Člověk v tísni)?

During the scenes that show the expelling of Americans from their homes out to the streets, because they were not able to pay their house mortgages, we don't find out how they got into that situation. Did banks give them loans with outstanding conditions and then later betrayed them when the economic situation got worse? Did those being expelled were not careful, did they take those loans conscious that they would not be able to pay them back?

It was odd how he used socio-demographic terminology in the film. Moore calls those expelled from their homes as "members of the middle class". From the British point-of-view, though, I would judge they belong to the proletarian class, from the way they looked, talked and acted, the decoration of their homes. Low middle class. If that is the middle class in the U.S., then I can't imagine how the blue collar working classes look like.

It was also interesting a scene about how employers, like for example the Walmart chain, gets a death insurance over their employees and then, when they die (and among thousands of staff there are always someone dying), Walmart makes money on them, just that the family members of the deceased know nothing about or get anything from it.

Another rather appalling information we learn from the film is that American commercial airplane pilots have a low salary, including their "national hero" - that pilot who saved the lives of his passengers, when he safely landed in New York's Hudson River. And then how that pilot unsuccessfully tries to talk about the pilot's small salaries to American members of Parliament at a guest speech in the U.S. Congress, but to a fleecing audience, for the legislators wanted to hear some "hero's speech", not complaints. Moore's film is a poignant indictment of "capitalism", even though in reality it is a record of the strikingly unscrupulous, abrasively lewd, unethical behavior of a big amount of Americans against their own fellow countrymen.

They do such bad things because there are laws that allow them to and America has risen from the Wild Wild West culture. It was literally disgusting to watch parasites, who buy for peanuts the homes of people who lost them because they were not able to pay their mortgages. The film, in my opinion, was not only an accusation against the system, but actually more against the fact that many people -- individuals -- have an amazingly well developed ability to act without scruples against their own people. As if there was no sense of civility in American society. I don't know if this if capitalism's fault and to what extent it is possible to fix it through legislation.

On the other hand a very positive experience from the film came from the scene about the voluntary business cooperatives, where all employees decide about their companies' strategies and share equally the profits among themselves. There are many in America following that business model and they are prospering amazingly, be it cooperatives putting together computers or maybe some average bakery. Amazing is that it showed how all members of the cooperative in the bakery business were making about 65 thousand dollars per year, which is more than fourfold what a normal baker generally gets.

I would sign under Michael Moore's appeal before the final credits rolled -- and it is valid even for Czechs: DO SOMETHING!

As it has been announced on Channel Four, Moore's documentary film Capitalism: with love is from Monday (24.5.2010) available on DVD in Britain.

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