Inequality for All
Inequality for All | |
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Directed by | Jacob Kornbluth |
Produced by | |
Narrated by | Robert Reich |
Cinematography | |
Edited by |
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Music by | Marco D'Ambrosio |
Production company | 72 Productions |
Distributed by | RADiUS-TWC |
Release dates |
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Running time | 89 minutes[1] |
Country | United States |
Language | English |
Box office | $1,205,079[2] |
Inequality for All is a 2013
, two entrepreneurs and investors in the top 1%, are interviewed in the film, supporting Reich's belief in an economy that benefits all citizens, including those of the middle and lower classes.As shown via a series of
Inequality for All premiered at the
Content
Robert Reich, author, professor at the University of California, Berkeley, official in three administrations, including United States Secretary of Labor under Bill Clinton, narrates Inequality for All. Reich is a thinker on the topic of inequality, having spoken on the subject for nearly three decades. In a similar fashion to An Inconvenient Truth (2006),[3] the film is organized around a narrative framework of his "Wealth and Poverty" classes taught at Berkeley, with interviews of average Americans in the middle class barely getting by.[4][5]
Two families are interviewed. One of them is Erika and Robert Vaclav, who raise two daughters on a single source of income of Erika working as a
Inequality for All is also a
A series of
Although not holding liable the problem on one partisan label (Republican or Democrat),
While Reich argues that inequality in capitalism is necessary for incentivizing people to work, he warns that too much inequality will cause a undemocratic system; this theme is presented in a conversation with Alan Simpson, where he suggests there will be a "government on the auction block" if inequality gets worse.[11] As Reich concludes Inequality for All under footage of Occupy Wall Street and Tea Party protests, "A lot of people feel the game is stacked against them, and losers in rigged games get angry. We are losing equal opportunity in America, our moral foundation stone."[11] The film's last lecture ends with advising his students to come up with solutions to the problem on their own[4] before dancing off the stage to the working-class anthem "9 to 5" by Dolly Parton.[10]
Production
This whole area of widening inequality in income, wealth and opportunity is rapidly getting out of control. It’s very important that people understand it. And it’s too easy to caricature—by the right, as essentially a problem of poor people not taking responsibility, and by the left, as essentially a matter of greedy CEOs and Wall Streeters. Those caricatures are both wrong. It’s systemic; it has to do with how we’ve organized society.
— Robert Reich when interviewed by The Nation[16]
Jacob Kornbluth grew up poor and lived in various suburban and urban areas around citizens of all political leanings.[17]
Reich and Kornbluth previously worked with each other on two-minute videos before Kornbluth pitched to Reich a film based on his book Aftershock (2010).
Inequality for All was first announced in a Deadline article published on January 26, 2012, its premise summarized as a "film about former U.S. Labor Secretary Robert Reich's efforts to call national attention to the nation's gaping economic inequality"; director Kornbluth, cinematographer Svetlana Cvetko, editor Kim Roberts, producers Sebastian Dungan and Jen Chaiken, and production company 72 Productions were revealed to be working on the project.[20] Dungan and Chaiken started producing another project, Afternoon Delight, in the middle of working on Inequality for All in order to diversify and increase their output for higher profits; this tightened work hours for both films as they planned to submit them to the same Sundance Film Festival event.[21][22]
60-days-worth of original footage was shot on
Release and promotion
Inequality for All was one of 16 films in the Documentary Competition of the 2013 Sundance Film Festival, which was the most political line-up in the category's history; opponents included another film about income equality (99%: The Occupy Wall Street Collaborative Film), a movie regarding Citizens United v. FEC's impact on the American political system (Citizen Koch), a film about four doctors performing late pregnancy termination (After Tiller), and two productions on the war on terror (Dirty Wars and Manhunt: The Search for Bin Laden).[26] It premiered at the festival in Park City, Utah's Prospector Square Park Theatre on January 19, 2013.[27]
Inequality for All was later screened at the
Around the time Inequality for All was released, Kornbluth ran a grass-roots promotion bringing labor unions, college students, and progressive organizations together to run screenings of the film and fight economic inequality. The film was also promoted with the "Save the Middle Class National Tour" that started on the 50th anniversary of the War on poverty in 2014.[12]
Upon the theatrical release, Reich discussed themes of Inequality for All via interviews on shows such as Marketplace,[34] PBS NewsHour,[35] CBS MoneyWatch,[36] Democracy Now!,[37] and Moyers & Company;[38] and publications such as i am Rogue[39] Collider,[18] OpEdNews,[40] AARP,[41] Time,[42] and The Nation.[18] CNN also cited stats from the film in a October 2013 report about East Carroll Parish, Louisiana, which had the highest income inequality of all areas in the United States.[43]
On October 3, 2013, during a federal government shutdown, Landmark Theatres and Radius-TWC offered free tickets to federal and military workers to see Inequality for All at 13 Landmark theaters across the United States.[44]
After its U.S. run, Inequality for All was screened at
Reception
Box office
Inequality for All opened on September 27, 2013 to 28 theaters in the United States, and grossed a total of $140,000, with a $5,000 per-theater average, in its first week; the presidents of RADiUS explained that while it was a risky move to have an issue documentary open in such a high amount of theaters due to the genre's usual commercial difficulty, it exceeded expectations due to strong reviews and a popular contemporary topic.[47] Reaching the million-dollar mark in its fifth week,[48] a rare feat for a documentary at the time;[49] Inequality for All ended up being the tenth highest-grossing motion picture from the 2013 Sundance Festival with a domestic gross totaling around $1.2 million.[33]
Critical response
According to the aggregate site
Inequality for All was heavily acclaimed for its easy-to-understand presentation of a complex topic,
Reich's presence was positively commented on,
However, Inequality of All wasn't free of condemnation. Some critics disliked that its concepts were already common knowledge and in previous economy documentaries.[8][1][72] The A.V. Club felt Reich's self-deprecating humor and narratives about his time in office were unnecessary tangents and "advertisement[s]" of Reich as an economic expert.[3] Hall similarly dismissed the salesman essence of the film: "This is a curious case of liking the messenger, loving the message and yet still feeling as if you’re being too heavily sold, even if you want to by [sic] into the product."[68] Kurtzleben also thought the middle-class family interviews, while necessary, caused pacing problems, as they were slower than segments showcasing statistics and historical points at a faster rate.[14] A couple of fingers were also pointed at the segment discussing Reich's time as Secretary of Labor; RedEye reviewer Matt Pais found it a distraction from the main subject,[72] while Andrew Barker of Variety noticed that he "doesn’t mention Clinton’s substantial role in furthering the financial deregulation trends that would come back to bite the world economy in the ass a decade later."[73] Pais also noted other holes: "Nowhere do the filmmakers address how people have adapted. Have some opted not to have kids because they can't support families? How have some succeeded by skipping college and using their money in other ways?"[72] A lack of a real solution to wide inequality was also not fondly-received,[69][62][15][74] although Simon Houpt was more sympathetic due to the United States' democracy being so "frozen."[59]
Partisan reception
The rejection of credible opposing viewpoints garnered mixed responses.[8][13][15][75] While Mohan approved the script's non-partisan nature in not blaming a specific side,[13] Kurtzleben and Milwaukee Journal Sentinel's Duane Dudek suggested this didn't do much as Reich's arguments leaned liberal and would turn off conservative viewers and those who thought the economy's problems have nothing to do with inequality.[14][76]
In fact, right-leaning sources panned Inequality for All. Pro-
The
Accolades
List of accolades | |||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Award | Category | Result | Ref. | ||
Cinema Eye Honors | Outstanding Achievement in Graphic Design or Animation | Nominated | [83] | ||
Los Angeles Times year-end list | Best of 2013 (Betsy Sharkey) | 9 | [84] | ||
Houston Film Critics Society Awards | Best Documentary | Nominated | [85] | ||
Seattle International Film Festival Golden Space Needle Award | Best Documentary | Runner-up | [86] | ||
Seattle Weekly year-end list | Best Films of 2013 | 10 | [87] | ||
Sundance Film Festival | U.S. Documentary Special Jury Award for Achievement in Filmmaking | Won | [88] | ||
Traverse City Film Festival Audience Award | Best Documentary Film | Won | [89] | ||
Zurich Film Festival Golden Eye | Best International Documentary Film | Nominated | [90] |
See also
- "It's 2059, and the Rich Kids are Still Winning", a 2019 short story by Ted Chiang.
References
Citations
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Bibliography
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