The One Percent: A Review

The One Percent is a documentary film directed by Jamie Johnson, heir to the Johnson & Johnson fortune. This film examines the gap that exists between the wealthiest 1% of America's population (who control half of the country's wealth), and the rest of us who always seem to be struggling to get by. The film talks about the power that money has on society and politics and has a few interesting interviews with big names like Milton Friedman, an (evil) economist, Steve Forbes, and a few radicals that had pretty wild opinions on being wealthy. Johnson's documentary touches on gentrification, food subsidies, economic policies and many other situations that show the disparity between the rich and poor in this country. There were a few great shots of New Orleans in the immediate aftermath of Katrina, with the point being that those who were left behind (and somewhat forgotten) were mainly the poor people who didn't have a car and couldn't afford a bus ticket.
For me, however, the most interesting part of this film was that it was conceived and directed by someone FROM that wealthiest 1%, which is a different perspective than what we normally get. Furthermore, Jamie's family was rather reluctant to be involved in the film, and hesitant about him even making such a film. He pestered them for interviews nonetheless, but the whole time I kept wondering if this documentary was worth all of the family strife that it was leaving in its wake.
There were some interesting moments in this film, but I guess overall I felt like it was a bit lacking, as most of what was portrayed was what all of us in that bottom 90% already know.... that the people with the money control the country and it basically sucks for everyone else. Our country's policies are developed by rich folks and do a pretty good job of making the very rich richer, and hurting everyone else. I would say this film is still worth a watch, especially if you are in the mood to get rather pissed off at rich people, but don't expect it to unveil any deep dark secrets that you haven't heard. It does do a good job at probing into the minds of the rich (and the not so rich) and allowing us to see things from another point of view. Pin It Now!