Step 1: Love him or hate him. Michael Moore makes us think; he makes us talk. And if you agree with what he has to say, especially with his latest opus Capitalism: A Love Story, he can inspire you to make a difference.
Step 2: Admit it. There’s one thing we can all resoundingly agree upon: The U.S. economy is in bad shape. In his first documentary Roger and Me, Moore showed us just the tip of the iceberg when he spotlighted the demise of Flint, Michigan, his hometown, due to General Motors’ downsizing. So, it only makes sense Moore would want to revisit the very same problems he warned us about in 1989, now seen played out on a massive national scale. Peppered with very real and very heart-wrenching stories of economic woe – a Moore specialty – the filmmaker drives home the point that corporate America, capitalism at its core, will be the downfall of us all unless we change things, stand up for ourselves and stop those greedy bastards from stealing any more dimes from us. Basically, Moore would like the American people, the 99 percent who are not super rich, to start a revolution – and he isn’t kidding.
Step 3: Thank god for the freedom of speech. For all of the U.S. faults, there are still some basic fundamental rights still in place – and the freedom to say what you want is one of them. Moore has become that guy who just isn’t going to keep his mouth shut. Sure, he’s heavy handed with his message, and yes, he typically only searches out those things that will support his agenda, rather than perhaps showing the whole picture (he IS a filmmaker, after all – a darn entertaining one at that). But he doesn’t pretend to be non-partisan. When we watch his documentaries, we know exactly what he stands for, and we want him to be out there asking the hard questions. Over and over and over again. Problem is, now Moore has now lost some of the element of surprise because of his notoriety. There’s a pretty hilarious part in Capitalism when he tries to go into the now bankrupted GM headquarters and is AGAIN turned away. “Come on, I’ve been trying for 20 years to get in there,” Moore says. “Don’t you think it’s time to let me in? I’ve got some pretty good ideas 
on how to help.” I just bet you do, Michael.
Step 4: Get your hands on some crime scene yellow tape. One of the best – and lighter – moments in Capitalism is Moore storming Wall Street, looking to get our money back from the big guns who took it in the bailout, making some citizen’s arrests of the banks’ CEOs for their white-collar crimes and finally cordoning off the buildings themselves with crime scene tape. It’s classic Moore – and it’s great.
Level of difficulty in watching Capitalism: A Love Story: As a compelling documentary, it’s easy but it’s also hard because we’ve got a lot of work to do to fix things in this country.
