Based on Thomas Piketty's No. 1 New York Times Bestseller, Capital in the Twenty-First Century explores one of the most important and controversial subjects of our time: wealth, and who gets... Read allBased on Thomas Piketty's No. 1 New York Times Bestseller, Capital in the Twenty-First Century explores one of the most important and controversial subjects of our time: wealth, and who gets a share of the dividends.Based on Thomas Piketty's No. 1 New York Times Bestseller, Capital in the Twenty-First Century explores one of the most important and controversial subjects of our time: wealth, and who gets a share of the dividends.
- Awards
- 1 nomination total
- Elizabeth Bennet
- (archive footage)
- Gordon Gekko
- (archive footage)
- Self - protester
- (archive footage)
- Self
- (archive footage)
- Gavroche
- (archive footage)
- Self
- (archive footage)
- Self
- (archive footage)
The documentary opens with slavery and tries to attribute all wealth of Europe and England to slavery. This doesn't work for countries like Germany and Switzerland (among others). Further, they purposely ignored slavery in Africa (by Africans) or slavery by the Arabs and why that was somehow different.
What the creators almost completely missed was the Industrial Revolution (it was touched on). The drive away from slavery had a significant impact on productivity and competition (but you have to know history to know that).
Then during the documentary, you have people like Kate William who (unbelievably) said we must remember the "working class and women". It's unclear if she meant "no woman must ever be poor" or if she was promoting the "Ophrah Winfrey is oppressed" angle. With an ideologist (more specifically, a sexist), reason is always missing.
The documentary also touched on how noble China was, ignoring how people were welded into their houses, how Hong Kong was destroyed, or how the Uyghurs are interned in concentration camps. This isn't to side-step the criticisms of the west (which are predominantly spelled out in this documentary - and quite fairly might I add). It's unclear what the motive of this false narrative was.
Then there's the jaw-dropping narcissism of Faiza Shaheen who unbelievably said "why does my 26yo brother in law have to live at home". My parents lived in a garage for 10 years! I lived in shabby accommodation for 10 years - but Ms Shaheen believes she is special! The narcissim was unbeliebable.
Then there's the "all white people are racist narrative". In recent months, AOC and Nancy Pelosi and Jo BIden who continually disparage all white people with the "white supremacy" pejorative that the documentary "glossed over". Instead, they went for the "we are all equal (some more than others)" narrative.
Rather than glorifying Margaret Thatcher in a "girl power" narrative, they could have talked how she destroyed working class Brits and incited significant levels of violence whilst destroying people's lives, especially as that was a theme of the documentary. Sadly, such analysis would never have been permitted when the documentary was heavily influenced by ideology.
If you can make it past the indoctrination and the "you shouldn't think for yourself", there is an excellent message about tax havens, inheritance, concentrations of wealth and the failure of trickle down economics.
My honest advice is the director and several of the guest speakers were unfit to be involved in a documentary and the documentary suffered for it. The message was clear... all people are equal but some are more equal than others. A message sung loudly by Kate William and Ms Shaheen
I'm being kind and giving it 6/10 because the underlying message (under the ideology) was solid.
- samyoung-82648
- Jan 18, 2021
- Permalink
Storyline
Did you know
- Quotes
Self - Associate Editor, Financial Times: There is now research showing that in advanced economies two thirds of the population is now on the track to be poorer than their parents.
- ConnectionsEdited from Les Deux Orphelines (1921)
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Details
- Release date
- Countries of origin
- Official site
- Languages
- Also known as
- Le capital au XXIe siècle
- Production companies
- See more company credits at IMDbPro
Box office
- Gross worldwide
- $439,550
- Runtime1 hour 43 minutes
- Color
- Aspect ratio
- 2.35 : 1