“Greed, for lack of a better word, is good.” These words from Wall Street became the motto for greedy capitalists since the 80s. Now, the world’s appetite for money has grown by a lot. Needless to say, corruption and consumption have taken over the world. This is what Lauren Greenfield tries to uncover in her film, Generation Wealth. But does Generation Wealth effectively shed light on this disease?
In a way, it does. The film covers a variety of subjects which uncovers our obsession with wealth. Unfortunately, it also is a tad egotistical with the way it follows Greenfield’s life and career.
Generation Wealth investigates the anatomy of the world’s richest society.
Generation Wealth is the type of thought-provoking documentary that’ll get you angry. So if reality television, narcissistic one-percenters, or stupid behavior bothers you then this film will annoy the hell out of you. The film follows the decades long trail of wealth in America. Basically, this sheds light on the destructive tendencies of amassing wealth and showing it off. As you can imagine, it doesn’t paint a bright future for us.
But the film isn’t just about America’s history of wealth and greed. For the most part, Generation Wealth is also about the career work and life of the film’s director, Lauren Greenfield. In fact, half of the film involves her life. Sure, it makes sense because she’s been covering this for several years. However, when she gets personal about her life, it’s not as interesting. Not to mention, the film seems a bit self-indulgent too. Since the film ends with the release of her photo book and gallery. The name of the book and gallery? Yeah, it’s the name of the film.
Nevertheless, Greenfield provides us with a lot of eye-opening interviews. The interviews cover a variety of subjects from a variety of people. Beauty, career, fame, sex, and status are some of the things that the film covers. As you can tell, they aren’t necessarily the easiest subjects to cover. But she manages to thoroughly cover each one. Not to mention, the stories are simply gripping to listen to. Their stories are unique and each one provides some really insightful information.
At the same time, the film will frustrate you to no end. How can people be this obsessed with all of this? Greenfield answers this question from the beginning and then seamlessly goes from subject to subject. She never overstays on a particular subject and keeps the pacing nice and taut. In addition, some of the photography and cinematography is just stunning to see on screen.
Overall, Generation Wealth is an unnerving documentary about the corruption of the American dream. Our society’s obsession with beauty, career, fame, sex, and status is the cause of the rampant corruption in America. Not to mention, it doesn’t paint a bright future for us. Ironically, if it weren’t for the self-indulgent inclusion of Greenfield’s life (and shameless promotion of her book) the film would be even more impactful. Nevertheless, it’s an important film that’ll open up debate about how corruption and consumption are affecting America.
Rating: 3/5 atoms
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