10.18.09 Bible Study/Michael Moore film review - "Capitalism: A Love Story,"

October 18, 2009 - Bible Study meets on Fridays 9-10AM in MCR
Twenty-ninth Sunday in Ordinary Time
Lectionary: 146Reading 1Responsorial PsalmReading 2Gospel
Reading 1Is 53:10-11The LORD was pleasedto crush him in infirmity.
If he gives his life as an offering for sin,he shall see his descendants in a long life,and the will of the LORD shall be accomplished through him.
Because of his afflictionhe shall see the light in fullnessof days;through his suffering, my servant shall justify many,and their guilt he shall bear.
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Reading IIHeb 4:14-16
Brothers and sisters:Since we have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus, the Son of God,let us hold fast to our confession.For we do not have a high priestwho is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses,but one who has similarly been tested in every way,yet without sin. So let us confidently approach the throne of graceto receive mercy and to find grace for timely help.
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GospelMk 10:35-45 or 10:42-45James and John, the sons of Zebedee, came to Jesus and said to him,"Teacher, we want you to do for us whatever we ask of you." He replied, "What do you wish me to do for you?" They answered him, "Grant that in your glorywe may sit one at your right and the other at your left." Jesus said to them, "You do not know what you are asking. Can you drink the cup that I drinkor be baptized with the baptism with which I am baptized?" They said to him, "We can." Jesus said to them, "The cup that I drink, you will drink,and with the baptism with which I am baptized, you will be baptized;but to sit at my right or at my left is not mine to givebut is for those for whom it has been prepared." When the ten heard this, they became indignant at James and John. Jesus summoned them and said to them,"You know that those who are recognized as rulers over the Gentileslord it over them,and their great ones make their authority over them felt. But it shall not be so among you.Rather, whoever wishes to be great among you will be your servant;whoever wishes to be first among you will be the slave of all. For the Son of Man did not come to be servedbut to serve and to give his life as a ransom for many."
or
Jesus summoned the twelve and said to them,"You know that those who are recognized as rulers over the Gentileslord it over them,and their great ones make their authority over them felt. But it shall not be so among you. Rather, whoever wishes to be great among you will be your servant;whoever wishes to be first among you will be the slave of all. For the Son of Man did not come to be servedbut to serve and to give his life as a ransom for many."
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Responsorial PsalmPs 33:4-5, 18-19, 20, 22R. (22)Lord, let your mercy be on us, as we place our trust in you.Upright is the word of the LORD,and all his works are trustworthy.He loves justice and right;of the kindness of the LORD the earth is full.R. Lord, let your mercy be on us, as we place our trust in you.See, the eyes of the LORD are upon those who fear him,upon those who hope for his kindness,To deliver them from deathand preserve them in spite of famine.R. Lord, let your mercy be on us, as we place our trust in you.Our soul waits for the LORD,who is our help and our shield.May your kindness, O LORD, be upon uswho have put our hope in you.R. Lord, let your mercy be on us, as we place our trust in you.


Hard-hitting but at times overly simplistic documentary in which filmmaker Michael Moore highlights numerous dysfunctional aspects of the capitalist system in the U.S. and their negative effects on working people, who are thrown into unemployment or have their homes seized in foreclosure, ultimately calling for an economic revolution that would bring democracy to the workplace. Though Moore interviews two Catholic priests and Auxiliary Bishop emeritus Thomas Gumbleton of Detroit, who are unanimous in condemning capitalism as inherently sinful, this is not the teaching of the full magisterium, which instead recognizes both the efficiencies of the free market system and its need to be prudently regulated, while upholding the human dignity of workers, particularly their right to unionize. At least three uses of the F-word, a couple of crude terms. A-III -- adults. (R) 2009
Full ReviewFilmmaker Michael Moore, who first brought his idiosyncratic but effective style of cinematic advocacy to bear on economic questions in his 1989 directorial debut “Roger & Me” -- focusing on the role of General Motors’ management in the decline of his hometown of Flint, Mich. -- takes on the American entrepreneurial system as a whole in the ironically titled “Capitalism: A Love Story” (Overture).
The result is a hard-hitting but at times overly simplistic documentary.Moore is at his best in chronicling the effects of economic dysfunction on vulnerable individuals and families, as a large group of Chicago factory workers are summarily thrown into unemployment or a farming couple faces foreclosure. And he manages to uncover more unusual – and more outrageous – examples of corporate greed gone haywire.
It’s disturbing to learn, for instance, that a number of airline pilots supplement their meager paychecks with food stamps or by selling their blood plasma, and that large corporations secretly take out life insurance policies on low-level employees, calculating that a certain percentage of them will end up as -- to quote the callous and insulting phrase used in the companies’ internal documents -- “dead peasants.”
But by far the most unsettling story Moore tells involves two corrupt Wilkes-Barre, Pa. judges who accepted bribes from a local for-profit juvenile detention facility in exchange for sentencing scores of young people to imprisonment there, often for the most trivial offences.
Moore is on shakier ground, though, when he examines economic history. He idealizes the days when top U.S. earners paid 90% income tax, claiming that this made possible not only the maintenance of the national infrastructure but the generous contracts under which unionized employees enjoyed numerous benefits, including free health and dental care.
He also blames the disappearance of American heavy industry entirely on the policies of President Ronald Reagan and his first Treasury Secretary, Donald Regan.
Ultimately, Moore calls for an economic revolution that would uproot capitalism completely. In its stead, he seems to favor, not the extreme socialism of the old Soviet system, but a cooperative model of democracy in the workplace, with each employee and manager an equal shareholder. Where the initial investment to establish new workplaces is to be found he fails to mention.
For a spiritual perspective, Moore – who speaks with great warmth of his Catholic childhood, of the kindly nuns who educated him and of his admiration for the clergy -- interviews are two Catholic priests who are family friends and Auxiliary Bishop emeritus Thomas Gumbleton of Detroit. The three are unanimous in condemning capitalism as inherently sinful.
Yet this is not the teaching of the full magisterium, which instead takes a more moderate stance, recognizing both the efficiencies of the free market system and its need to be prudently regulated, while upholding the human dignity of workers, particularly their right to unionize.
The film contains at least three uses of the F-word and a couple of crude terms. The USCCB Office for Film & Broadcasting classification is A-III -- adults. The Motion Picture Association of America rating is R -- restricted. Under 17 requires accompanying parent or adult guardian.