A Netflix viewing on December 16th in Chicago. Jacob Kornbluth directs the film that's based on Robert Reich's 2015 novel of same name. I had been looking forward to this film as I was a big fan of Kornbluth's and Reich's 2013 collaboration, Inequality for All.
Reich is a liberal economist/professor/author with excellent credentials. The premise is that instead of a book tour, he's going out on a pseudo lecture tour in middle America, the conservative heartland to talk to people about economics. There's a scene where he has a dinner with some Kansas City entrepreneurs who are of course conservative. The entrepreneurs let Reich know that they feel vilified by him because they're rich and worked hard to get there, which is never the target of Reich's rants. Nothing really ever comes of this dinner. We also get interviews with farmers about the 2016 election. There are segments that explain how the average person is left out of the economy, how corporations game the system and how politicians cash in after their service.
The film goes in different directions but finally comes to the conclusion that crony capitalism is to blame.
Which I find hard to believe that this is some sort of news flash.
I found this film to be a bit disappointing. It was not as good as Inequality for All. It seemed to take a roundabout way to make it's point and the only solution I came away with was to elect better officials, good luck, and end crony capitalism, good luck again. I guess I will have to read the book.
No comments:
Post a Comment