Inequality For All (2013)
Average Rating: 7.4/10
Reviews Counted: 52
Fresh: 47 | Rotten: 5
While it arrives in a glut of similarly themed documentaries, Inequality for All distinguishes itself with a compelling presentation of an important message, as well as much-needed splashes of wit.
Average Rating: 7.5/10
Critic Reviews: 26
Fresh: 25 | Rotten: 1
While it arrives in a glut of similarly themed documentaries, Inequality for All distinguishes itself with a compelling presentation of an important message, as well as much-needed splashes of wit.
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Average Rating: 4/5
User Ratings: 2,170
Movie Info
At the heart of the film is a simple proposition: what is a good society, and what role does the widening income gap play in the deterioration of our nation's economic health? We are endeavoring for INEQUALITY FOR ALL to be a paradigm-shifting, eye-opening experience for the American public. We want to accurately show through a non-partisan perspective why extreme income inequality is such an important topic for our citizens today and for the future of America.(c) Official Site
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All Critics (52) | Top Critics (26) | Fresh (47) | Rotten (5)
Overall, this film is enlightening, entertaining and seriously alarming.
Top CriticPresident Clinton's secretary of labor lectures on income inequality with a refreshing lack of jargon.
Robert Reich, a secretary of labor under President Clinton, leads us through a sharp-eyed essay-meditation on the rising trend of income inequality.
Reich manages to infuse this enlightening/infuriating documentary on extreme income disparity in the United States, and the corollary marginalization of the middle class, with an optimistic spirit. One that may or may not be justified.
Any politician hoping to redistribute America's wealth should screen it before every stump speech.
It's unseemly, I know, to praise a movie like this for the stand-up-comic affability of its host. But Reich's engagingness also gives credence to the seriousness of his message.
The trouble with Inequality is that it's a book pretending to be a movie. Like far too many recent documentaries, there is nothing cinematic and almost nothing visual about it.
[Robert Reich] headlines this documentary in which he explains his views about the United States' current economic woes. It's something he manages to do engagingly and with great clarity.
This documentary would be a rousing David and Goliath story even if its hero weren't the diminutive Robert B. Reich.
The film makes no secret of its liberal political leanings and activist goals, which means it likely will only preach to the converted.
An advocacy doc constructed to make a clear political point first and function as a film a distant second.
That a documentary about economics could be so personally emotional and affecting is remarkable. And to learn from Reich in this film, as his students at Berkeley do, is a treat and a privilege.
It all ends with Reich's students giving him a standing ovation. I felt like jumping out of a window.
Filmmaker Kornbluth personalizes this story by using Reich's warmth and humor to win us over and keep his presentation from becoming a dry recitation of facts.
[Reich is] a great, charismatic movie hero, and he makes you feel you're in safe hands.
If you like your movie stars to be smart, engaging, well-spoken, self-deprecating and Danny DeVito-size, you couldn't do much better than this leading authority on economics who served under presidents Ford, Carter and Clinton.
Audience Reviews for Inequality For All
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"WHY WOULD I SEE THIS FILM?"
Why would I see this film? Certainly, I know that Robert Reich was at one time the
Labor Secretary in Clinton's first term as President. Reich held views then on the need to keep Middle Class workers producing. And although in my head I think Capitalism should reward anyone-who has the talent, brains/ good fortune to figure out a way to earn vast sums of cash-- the right to earn those sums of cash, in my heart of hearts there seethes a nagging struggle to accept the moral right for some to earn-say, billions-- while large numbers of folks have been displaced from their workplace and can't find other work. Most of these workers can't become savvy entrepreneurs. It's simply not in them. But they're willing to work- if somebody allows them work.
"THE BILLIONAIRE'S OUTLOOK!"
Reich mentions a fact-which I'm assuming is true- "Four hundred folks here have more wealth than half the folks combined in the United States." The pace of this film moves quite well. It starts out showing Reich lecturing to students at Berkeley and then proceeding from there to hearing what people in the real world have to say on their own behalf. One of the striking scenes is Reich's talking with a candid fellow who possesses the billionaire's outlook as well as his assets-- yet conceded that his income per year (from ten million to thirty million) comes close to 'obscene'. But don't blame him. He's playing the game based on the present tax rules. If those rules change, He will abide.
"SOMEONE, SOMEWHERE, SOMETIME... !"
I don't think anywhere in the film is any solution told as to how to solve the basic problem- which is how to create jobs to re-make the Middle Class. Technology and the
availability of cheap labor from other lands have allowed companies to replace workers with tech equipment or foreign help. Yet, it always seems that someone, somewhere, sometime will embrace this challenge and come up with fresh practical solutions-- rather than keen rhetoric...But that comes first.
...DEPENDING WHO YOU ARE...!"
If you come to this film as a one per-center- one who exists in wealth's top tier- I don't know that this film will rapidly turn you so you now sense the unfairness. But if you're someone on the fence-- uncertain which side you should drop onto-- this film may rightly give you food for thought-maybe action. Those who perceive all too clearly
the cruel problem here will gain ammunition to possibly use more wisely.
"A FIRST-RATE CANDIDATE!"
A documentary should present moving facts and introduce the best of truths, I do believe Bob Reich's role in this film-along with excellent directing by Jacob Kornbluth-makes this a first-rate candidate for some kid of Academy Award; and it has my vote in the form of EIGHT. Its "small hinges (may) swing big doors!"
Humbler Acts
Humbler Acts, creator of "THE WIZARD'S OUTRAGEOUS SCHEME FOR STOPPING SMOKING", reports one film every week as a relaxation from his speaking and writing on stopping smoking through dream use and Seven Forces. He's American, English-educated, residing in St. Louis, MO (USA). He can be reached: humbleracts@aol.com or telephone: 314-574-7681
.