Having read both the French and English editions of the book by Thomas Piketty, I can say unequivocally... Skip that and just watch the movie. Justin Pemberton moves you through the process of the underlying premise and all the facts in the book, brilliantly and with just the right amount of visual and musical collage to keep you interested and more curious by the minute, to the inevitable conclusion Piketty reached in his award winning nonfiction. A few friends of mine have also read Piketty's book and we all experienced the same cerebral exhaustion; in other words it is a very heavy read, packed full of data, all of which supports, for most us, the clear and very welcomed conclusion of the author. In both the book and the movie, a glimmer of hope is left to the reader and viewer to draw after some further pondering. And oh yes, you will do some of that.
If you hadn't herd yet, the topic is inequality between rich and poor, how it was in the past and how it is again today, and worse than we're told by any politicians, and why it never seems to really go away. There are several hard truths about human nature, about societies, about political realities that will be hard for some to face, and this movie highlights those like the book didn't quite do for me. Since reading the book, I have searched for and still am seeking another book to offer up a guide of sorts out of the mess we are in, the one we the 90% find ourselves in. There isn't one, not yet at least. But if enough people see the movie, reflect on the hopes and thoughts Piketty challenged us when he concluded his work, then I trust people will recognize the leaders that can make the changes, the incremental changes to fix things without the masses resorting to the alternate consequence mentioned only in the book, revolution and more wars.
If you hadn't herd yet, the topic is inequality between rich and poor, how it was in the past and how it is again today, and worse than we're told by any politicians, and why it never seems to really go away. There are several hard truths about human nature, about societies, about political realities that will be hard for some to face, and this movie highlights those like the book didn't quite do for me. Since reading the book, I have searched for and still am seeking another book to offer up a guide of sorts out of the mess we are in, the one we the 90% find ourselves in. There isn't one, not yet at least. But if enough people see the movie, reflect on the hopes and thoughts Piketty challenged us when he concluded his work, then I trust people will recognize the leaders that can make the changes, the incremental changes to fix things without the masses resorting to the alternate consequence mentioned only in the book, revolution and more wars.