Movie Review - Generation Wealth

Generation Wealth ** (out of 5) (R) This documentary by photojournalist Lauren Greenfield shows an admirable effort to hold a mirror up to the society we’ve devolved into, compared to the one we think we have. The main point is how our definition of success and living the American Dream have gone from the “family values” we espouse to worship of false idols - greed, fame, outrageously short-sighted living, etc. The execution, however, is lost in a meandering presentation that tries to cover more ground than it can with any coherence.

We see spoiled rich kids; parents who ignored their families to acquire obscene amounts of wealth; ostentation that would have been the envy of ancient Rome; excesses of sex and substances; impatience to start living large, as any particular person defines it; all the Sodom and Gemorrahish actions and possessions denounced and coveted by many of the same voices. Greenfield inserts not only her process of gathering her material from decades of telling stories here and abroad through her lenses, but her own place in the culture she’s examining. That includes her parents and upbringing.

One problem common to many documentaries with strong social, political or moral critiques is that those who most need the proffered chastisements either won’t buy a ticket, or won’t see themselves in it as examples of the problems. We all justify ourselves to ourselves to get by, so the messages herein will likely roll off any jaded backsides that wander into the theater.

The specific deficiency in this case is a lack of focus that’s ironic for a film written and directed by a distinguished photographer. Greenfield inserts her own issues with her formative years and later attempts to juggle career with family into the socio-economics of the rest of her footage. In 1962, an Italian documentary, Mondo cane, brilliantly and pungently showed us the worst of our excesses in a potent, yet often hilarious, cautionary tale. This one tries to cover the same territory and more, but drifts off with a bunch of weak “lessons” supposedly learned by several of the featured subjects. The result is far lass than it could have been - or what we needed it to be.