Michael Moore Digs Up Presidential Footage for Capitalism: A Love Story
Posted 09.18.09 by reelz
The title Capitalism: A Love Story is clearly ironic. Michael Moore's latest documentary is a no-holds-barred polemic against the people and institutions that precipitated the current global financial meltdown. As Moore explained during a recent appearance on The Jay Leno Show, he views capitalism as "legalized greed" and is just as willing to go after sold-out Democrats as sold-out Republicans in his search for culprits. Even Obama isn't necessarily exempt.
Along the way though, Moore has assembled an impressive collection of footage, some of which is likely to draw genuinely widespread appreciation. His biggest coup is the discovery of a previously unknown newsreel of Franklin Roosevelt proposing a second bill of rights to protect the middle class. The filmmaker is clearly proud of his find:
The Roosevelt footage, no one's ever seen that, it was lost. The Roosevelt family told us it didn't exist. We found it in South Carolina, buried, totally buried. Now they have it in the presidential library.
Other historical footage shown in the movie is less flattering, though, such as an assemblage of clips documenting the close ties of the Reagan White House to Merrill Lynch. Announcing that you are planning to "turn the bull loose" just doesn't play as well now as it did back in the day.