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Capitalism: A Love Story

Capitalism: A Love Story
In front of a gray silhouette of protesters holding up signs below a yellow-orange sky, a rotund man in casual clothing folds his arms and faces a silver-haired businessman in the foreground, whose back is to the viewer. The businessman holds up the American flag in his right hand while holding a bag with a dollar sign behind his back, out of view of the man and the protesters.
Theatrical release poster
Directed by Michael Moore
Produced by
  • Anne Moore
  • Michael Moore
Written by Michael Moore
Music by Jeff Gibbs
Cinematography
  • Daniel Marracino
  • Jayme Roy
Edited by
  • Jessica Brunetto
  • Alex Meiller
  • Tanya Meiller
  • Conor O'Neill
  • Pablo Proenza
  • T. Woody Richman
  • John Walter
Production
companies
Distributed by Overture Films
Release date
  • September 6, 2009 (2009-09-06) (VIFF)
  • October 2, 2009 (2009-10-02) (United States)
Running time
 127 minutes
Country United States
Language
  • English
  • Russian
  • Spanish
Budget $20 million
Box office $17.4 million

Capitalism: A Love Story is a 2009 American documentary film directed, written by, and starring Michael Moore. The film centers on the late-2000s financial crisis and the recovery stimulus, while putting forward an indictment of the current economic order in the United States and unfettered capitalism in general. Topics covered include Wall Street's "casino mentality", for-profit prisons, Goldman Sachs' influence in Washington, D.C., the poverty-level wages of many workers, the large wave of home foreclosures, corporate-owned life insurance, and the consequences of "runaway greed". The film also features a religious component where Moore examines whether or not capitalism is a sin and whether Jesus would be a capitalist, in order to shine light on the ideological contradictions among evangelical conservatives who support free market ideals.

The film was widely released to the public in the United States and Canada on October 2, 2009. Reviews were generally positive. It was released on DVD and Blu-ray on March 9, 2010.

Moore begins by looking back at the contradictions in Ancient Rome, drawing similarities with the present day, and wondering how people of the future will look back on American society now. Would they pay more attention to viral videos or the wave of home foreclosures after the late-2000s financial crisis? Moore meets with his friend Wallace Shawn and they discuss what capitalism and "free enterprise" mean. Looking back on his happy and prosperous early life, Moore reflects, "if this was capitalism, I loved it... and so did everyone else": in the 1950s, the top tax rate was 90% and this meant that the country could build dams, bridges, schools and hospitals, most families only had one parent in work, union families had free healthcare, college tuition was free, most people had little personal debt and pensions were guaranteed. This prosperity was driven by the manufacturing industry, which benefited from post-war Germany and Japan struggling to recover.


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