CAPITALISM: A Love Story

I spent Erev Rosh Hashana in the theater, watching the first ever public screening of Michael Moore's new movie, Capitalism: A Love Story, the jewel in the crown of the Kansas International Film Festival.

Yes, Michael Moore in Kansas. I was concerned that we wouldn't get in because...well... it's the new Moore film. I shouldn't have worried. It is, after all, still Kansas.. There was no line, no crush of people. The theater filled a respectable 260 of the 300 available seats.

I'm not going to do a review here, but it'd be wrong if I didn't let at least one cat out of the bag. Did you know corporations have found a way to profit from the death of their employees? Many companies have turned employee death into a profit center, taking out life insurance policies on the rank and file employees (without telling them), naming the company as beneficiary. When these employees die, presto! Easy money. This insurance is called "dead peasants insurance." Really. No permission needed. You're just a peasant after all. Don't believe it? Check it out here:

http://deadpeasantinsurance.com/. Walmart, AT&T, american express, american greetings corp, bank of america, bristol-myers squibb, bell south, coca cola, cox enterprises, diamond shamrock... the list goes on and on... - almost every big name company you can think of.

Moore more than usual does a good job of keeping himself out of the way of the camera, and manages to restrain his typical mouthiness, a complaint I've had in the past. His information is always mind-blowing, but he has been, at times, his own worst enemy. I walk away from his films thinking, "let the footage speak for itself, Michael." Not this time.

You need to see this film. It was quite inspirational. I'm ready to join a band of protesters staging a sit-in for an evicted family, or to feed fired workers of a closed down factory. Even if you're not a Moore fan, see it. Please!