Capital in the Twenty-First Century (the movie)

FR/NZ © 2019 GFC (Capital) Limited & Upside SAS. PC: General Film Corporation / Upside Production. P: Yann Le Prado, Matthew Metcalfe.
    A documentary film.
    D: Justin Pemberton. SC: Matthew Metcalfe, Justin Pemberton, Thomas Piketty – from the book Le Capital au XXIe siècle (2013) by Thomas Piketty. Cin: Jacob Bryant, Darryl Ward – colour – release: digital. M: Jean-Benoît Dunckel. S: Steve Finnigan. ED: Sandie Bompar.
    Featuring: Ian Bremmer, Lucas Chancel, Bryce Edwards, Rana Foroohar, Francis Fukuyama, Simon Johnson, Paul Mason, Suresh Naidu, Paul Piff, Thomas Piketty, Faisa Shaheen, Joseph Stiglitz, Gillian Tett, Kate Williams, Gabriel Zucman.
    In English and French with English subtitles.
    103 min
    Festival premiere: 13 June 2019 Sydney Film Festival.
    Corona lockdown viewings.
    Vimeo link viewed on a 4K tv set at home in Helsinki, 13 May 2020.

Studiocanal synopsis: "Adapting one of the most groundbreaking and powerful books of our time, Capital in the 21st Century is an eye-opening journey through wealth and power, that breaks the popular assumption that the accumulation of capital runs hand in hand with social progress, shining a new light on the world around us and its growing inequalities. Traveling through time from the French Revolution and other huge global shifts, to world wars and through to the rise of new technologies today, the film assembles accessible pop-culture references coupled with interviews of some of the world's most influential experts delivering an insightful and empowering journey through the past and into our future." —Studiocanal

Kino Marquee synopsis: "Based on the international bestseller by rock-star economist Thomas Piketty (which sold over three million copies worldwide and landed Piketty on Time's list of most influential people), this captivating documentary is an eye-opening journey through wealth and power, a film that breaks the popular assumption that the accumulation of capital runs hand in hand with social progress, and shines a new light on today’s growing inequalities. Traveling through time, the film assembles accessible pop-culture references coupled with interviews of some of the world’s most influential experts delivering an insightful and empowering journey through the past and into our future."

AA: Justin Pemberton has created a high profile documentary film based on Thomas Piketty's book Le Capital au XXIe siècle, a modern classic of political economy. There is a sterling roster of commentators, and the historical scope is wide, starting from the 18th century and continuing to our days. Even for those who have read Piketty's books (also his newer one, Capital et idéologie, 2019), a dramatized summary can be welcome.

Unfortunately, Pemberton does not succeed in finding a form for his film. He offers a little bit of everything from statements by talking heads (they are the strongest asset), newsreel footage from the 125 years of film history, and a lot of clips from fictional films. There are illuminating animations and relevant pop music clips, too.

It does not work, but this film is exciting as a showcase of the possibilities of this kind of film project. I would look forward to a television series based on these premises.

Visually and aesthetically I had a feeling of an "uncanny valley" at times, a Photoshopped quality in the talking heads. Colorization of historical documents does not make them look more convincing to me. On the contrary, I am turning increasingly critical to the cavalier attitude to historical documents even in the most revered achievements of compilation film. I would welcome annotation and source criticism / information evaluation in serious documentary films. That would not turn them more boring.

We are living in a time of change, and Piketty's books have been welcomed as key statements across political demarcation lines.

Piketty is critical of capitalism, but there is also a sense in which he is defending capitalism – from itself. Like in the 1870s and the 1930s, a radical change is imminent because otherwise capitalism will self-destruct.

Read the books – they are more engrossing and even entertaining than this film that is striving too hard to please.