Greed

Greed is clearly a satire on the exploitation of the common person by the ultra-rich and their excessive lifestyle. Satire, as a tool for change, is vital in this and every political climate. Satire uses humor along with a passive-aggressive tongue lashing to point out societal pitfalls, much like Jesus told parables to mock the religious leaders of his time. But the line between Satire and petty hatred is extremely thin.

As a movie, Greed relentlessly pounds the rich with its heavy-handed message. It rightfully points out that human slavery and sweatshops still exist and that there is a severe refugee crisis. But rather than offering any real solutions to the problem, its sole message is the rich are evil. Every time the “evil” label is placed on McCreadie, throughout the film, the less of an impact the word and concept becomes. In other words, it loses its power and we become numb to it.

“…relentlessly pounds the rich with its heavy-handed message.”

Not to get overly political with this political movie, but I have to take issue with what I’ll call the film’s “Punch-a-Nazi” moment. Have we finally arrived at the point where, yes, it’s OK to incite violence, punch, or kill, those who do not agree with us. That moment exists and is close to being justified as acceptable behavior and little consequences are given to its action.

Look, I’m not an apologist for the rich as having insane amounts of money, keeps one out of touch with the working class. The money corrupts the average person in the same way power corrupts the same person. The messaging in Greed does nothing but preach to the choir and keeps us firmly divided in a time where reaching across the aisle would do a helluva lotta good. If you’re a socialist and love seeing the rich get what’s coming to them, Greed is the film for you. If you’re like me and just tired of the constant “I’m right. You’re evil!” messaging, this is definitely a skip.