So I scored tickets to see the DC premiere of Michael Moore's "Capitalism: A Love Story." The great man himself was there and I can report with all accuracy that he is indeed fat. And yes I really did walk down a red carpet to get in the theater. Alas, no one asked me who I was wearing -- disappointing given that I had donned a new bowling shirt for the occasion. (Before the show there was a little street theater with a group of plutocrats in black tie and top hats chanting inspirational slogans such as "wealthcare not healthcare" and "profits before people" and "what do you want? " - "obscene profits" - "when do you want them?" - "now!")
The movie is a typical Moore effort -- at times inspired agit-prop, other times affecting tear jerker, and sometimes a little too conspiracy minded for my tastes. Moore is a visceral rather than analytical thinker, which means that for every direct hit he scores, there is a dud or at best a glancing blow struck. But I will always have a certain affection for him for his twenty year crusade for solidarity, a war he has waged with great good humor at the expense of the privileged and powerful. Michael Moore himself remains an inspired character -- watching him show up at Goldman Sachs to make a citizen's arrest, pulling up a Brinks Truck at Citibank to "get our money back" or watching his baffled face while listening to an explanation of what a derivative is is always fun. The best part of the movie, as Moore himself stressed prior to the screening, is a never before seen bit of FDR speaking for posterity on behalf of a "second Bill of Rights" in 1944. It's a remarkable few minutes.
I got to shake hands and say hi to Senator Bernie Sanders (the anti-Baucus) at the party afterward, and then ran into the ever charming Chris Hayes on the street afterward. (We got to watch the amusing spectacle of seeing Dennis Kucinich and his striking, statuesque, red-headed wife leaving the movie.) I would have liked to have stuck around and said hi to Moore, but having a 16-year old boy and a one year old dog home alone together argued for an unfashionably early departure.
I'd love to hear your reaction to the movie when you see it.
