Inequality for All (2013)

Inequality for All, the 2013 documentary by Jacob Kornbluth which stars former Labor Secretary Robert Reich, paints a disturbing picture of how the wealth in the United States is concentrating into fewer and fewer hands. Based on Reich’s 2010 book Aftershock: the Next Economy and America’s Future, the film’s main point is that a strong and stable middle class is indicative of a nation’s healthy, productive and sustainable economy. And in the America of 2014, the middle class is shrinking.

The film opens with Reich’s lecturing before one of his large Cal-Berkely classes. A diminutive man, he holds court before auditorium packed to overflowing. He’s clearly a rock-star professor.

Though charts and graphs, Inequality makes a convincing case that the 1% are profiting the expense of the rest of us. Reich shows inverse correlation between union membership, political partisanship, and of middle-class wealth. According to him, things are not headed in the right direction. 

In addition to being well informed on the issues, Reich comes across as an amiable, thoughtful, charismatic guy. Despite his small stature, he’s clearly a big thinker (he’s taught at Harvard and Brandeis; he’s clearly a bright guy). He drives a Mini Cooper because (as he says) the two are “in proportion.” He’s funny, insightful, seems trustworthy and (unlike most politicians) remarkably human. What drives his thinking is not ideology, but compassion for his fellow human. He’s inspiring and optimistic.

What surprised me was how emotionally stirring parts of the film are. Reich recalls boyhood connections with a well-known historical figure, and how it affected his philosophy and life choices. It’s moving, and heart warming.

Along with a recurring suspension-bridge-shaped graph, the film makers use personal interviews, animation, and myriad stock footage (ranging from black-and-white images from several decades ago, all the way up to the present day) to make their points. Despite some fairly dense material, the film’s nimble and interesting. It’s not a dry, slow or boring, but instead engaging and entertaining throughout. It’s also persuasive (which is perhaps to be expected since, where my politics are concerned, it’s preaching the choir). Inequality joins Enron: the Smartest Guys in the Room, An Inconvenient Truth, Client 9: the Rise and Fall of Eliot Spitzer, and Inside Job on a growing list of left-leaning docs, which are as intellectually stimulating as they are viscerally compelling.