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ACTOR
Lewis LaphamCaton BurwellPaul CantagalloJessica Silver-Greenberg
DIRECTOR
John Kirby
SYNOPSICS
The American Ruling Class (2005) is a English movie. John Kirby has directed this movie. Lewis Lapham,Caton Burwell,Paul Cantagallo,Jessica Silver-Greenberg are the starring of this movie. It was released in 2005. The American Ruling Class (2005) is considered one of the best Comedy,Music movie in India and around the world.
In this first of its kind "dramatic-documentary-musical", Lewis Lapham takes two young Ivy-League graduates on a tour of the corridors of power. The novice careerists must decide: should they seek to rule the world, or to save it?
The American Ruling Class (2005) Trailers
The American Ruling Class (2005) Reviews
We are all just peons to America's richest 1%
I thoroughly enjoyed this mock-documentary. I have chosen to review it after reading some of the reviews that completely missed the point. The movie truly shows how the incredibly rich and powerful people rule the United States. All of the acting is staged, and shown to be this way throughout the movie. I wish it was a satire about how the U.S.A. is run, but it is one of the truest accounts out there. I watched Oprah the other day, and the topic involved Class structure and rule in society...and I told my wife about this film, since it does a far better job explaining what the different class structures are. It truly comes down to the super-rich, and the rest of us. I have a very good job, and make a fantastic living financially, and can pretty much do whatever I please without money being any type of issue. However, I am much closer to the bottom of the ladder than the top, no matter how much designer crap I buy...or vacations I take...or homes I own. On the surface it may look like I have a lot more, but in reality I am in the same boat as everyone else. This movie shows how dramatically different the 99% of us live to the 1%...so different most people are completely clueless, and will miss the point of this movie entirely. As far as the quote Lapham gives...he's not the perfect actor, but people can use those quotes to understand what America's ruling Class truly thinks and believes. This movie is well worth seeing.
deadly accurate and tactfully subversive
In this smoothly flowing semi-documentary, John Kirby and Lewis Lapham guide us through a believable but dramatized set of circumstances in the would-be lives of two well educated young men ready to embark on their promising careers in business, politics and whatever else. Dreamlike, we are driven across landscapes and cityscapes, from the rectangular office spaces of Wall Street to the comfortably luxurious houses of the well-off. During the process, we are haunted, as the life-like main characters are, by the seductive promise of life on the leading edge of American power and money. The choice of fictionalizing a documentary is, by itself, nothing new, but the WAY this has been done here is quite unique. It seems that all the fictive elements only serve the purpose of truth and accuracy, instead of obfuscating the realities involved. Even the graphical and musical interludes serve as surprisingly sympathetic material for further reflection. Unfortunately this strategy subjects the film to criticism from those who find such content offensive or unnecessary. This film is too "artsy" for some; others may find it "preachy", for much the same reasons. For me, the true achievement of the film is precisely its ability to toe that fine line between realism and idealism without ever falling overboard. Thanks largely to Lewis Lapham and a wonderful "cast" of what in a lesser documentary would be called talking heads (including such giants as Kurt Vonnegut, Robert Altman, Howard Zinn and Walter Cronkite), the film delivers a cinematic equivalent of a journalistic exposition, both laid back and straight to the point. Indeed, this is Lapham's film as much as Kirby's, and for those who find his presence overbearing, this film might prove to be too much. But its subjectivity is perfectly honest and sincere, and should be applauded as such. While this is clearly not a "pure" documentary in the traditional sense, I wouldn't call it either fiction or mockumentary - it's really one of a kind. For anybody with an interest in the way academicians, aspiring college graduates, business people and powerful politicians see the world and how they reflect on their own role in the functioning of the system, this film is a must see. Whether or not it is useful to talk of a "Ruling Class", the jarringly disparate perspectives of the very rich and powerful in contrast to the way more modestly earning wage workers see the world raises many questions - and, probably, the hair on your neck! It is not without its problems; the last half could probably have used re-editing. Still, it is a unique look - and certainly just one possible look - at the way power, money and ideology operate in today's society. It is deadly accurate, mainly because it lets people speak for themselves. For this same reason, and underneath its cool and tact, it is surprisingly subversive and charming. Despite Lapham's grayer-than-gray attire, the film is anything but.
Unlike anything you've ever seen before...biting satirical call to reform
This film is a must see for recent college grads or really anyone trying to figure out their place in this world. This film is truly a marvel...not only does it transcend neat classifications, "documentary," "drama," "musical" (of which it is all three) it elevates the subject matter-what are the social responsibilities and realities for those to whom much is given?- to a call for a generation to re-examine their blind ambition and think of the world their actions are creating. This film grapples, as many of us do, with the trade-offs between doing the things you love or that will benefits those around you, and ascending the ladder of success and fortune. What is truly remarkable about this film is how effectively it uses satire to drive home its point. It resists condescension and engages the audience as intelligent, thinking beings. (finally!) A tour of affluence and influence in America, it sports a cast of very interesting and accomplished people. The "actors" - in a Q&A with the director we learned that the kids were not trained actors but actually recent Harvard and Princeton grads - delivered honest performances. Not to mention the fact that Lewis Lapham is a riot. I would be remiss if I failed to mention that there is stunning fusion of the message of the film with the film's musical numbers. Well done, original and powerful.
TARC- An investigation into politics that is long overdue.
Lapham narrates and guides two young investment banker wannabees through a post-modernist adventure into the private lives and thoughts of some of the America's most interesting and powerful people. If the information that Lapham attempts to distill from this powerful and effective documentary could be related to more people, perhaps the country would be in better shape. The movie is at times sad and frustrating-the nickel and dime singin' working class dignity is a poignant revelation- but overall it is a vision of hope for the future. I am not familiar with Mr. Lapham's political inclinations, but the film achieves a remarkable milestone, clearly identifying problems in contemporary America without assigning blame. The whole thing reminded me of Barak Obama's winning attitude and the hope of an intelligent and bi-partisan, or at least meritocratic solution to the world's toughest problems. The film suffers from a bit too much cuteness, but I have never seen such efficient use interviews with people that really matter. If you are interested in politics,history, or just care a lot about humanity, this is essential viewing.
The contradiction of gentry liberalism
I'll first agree with other reviewers that the musical sequences are hokey and awkwardly inserted. I don't have much to add beyond that, except for the closing sequence (we'll return to that in a moment). This film seems a little confused as to whether it contains a message of noblesse oblige or "workers of the world unite!" Lewis Lapham is himself a caricature of an American elite: Ivy League and Cambridge educated, the editor of an elite northeastern publication, and father of children married, respectively, to a prince, and to the daughter of a Canadian prime minister. However, he seems to believe that the American ruling class is comprised of those in pursuit of profit rather than those born into, and thoroughly moving about and between the oldest, most exclusive and elite circles of American, and indeed global society. He seems, however, not to consider himself part of the American ruling class and instead focuses on Wall Street -- a flawed and privileged sector of American society, but far less exclusive and more meritocratic that the world Lapham inhabits. Lapham hires two actors to portray recent graduates of Yale (again, a bastion of pedigreed exclusivity) faced with the choice of whether to, in Lapham's words, do well or do good. Hence the noblesse oblige. However, so much of the movie concentrates on the plight of the working class (for instance, servers at IHOP)-- people who could win the lottery tomorrow and still have no hope of ever being welcome at the Upper East Side cocktail parties in which Lapham's ilk socialize. The final musical sequence refers to the "fall of empires," and uses children dressed to portray various professions and segments of American society rebelling against Lapham's caricature of the ruling class. However, the children meant to be understood as the rulers are dressed as doctors and lawyers -- professions long seen as the attainable achievements of the middle class resulting from hard work and education -- not necessarily of pedigreed elites. A doctor educated at a state medical school may indeed make a very good living, but he/she is arguably far less elite than the head of a non-profit foundation born to old money and educated in the Ivy Leagues. Lapham seems confused about the difference between two corollary conversations: the divide between elites and the masses, or the inequality between professionals and the working class. I would guess this results from a very limited perspective. Very few of us probably regard ourselves as part of the ruling class, and I'd imagine Lapham is no different. I can't think of a more ironic example, though. I recommend seeing this movie, not because it raises the issues it intends, but because it exposes one of the ongoing contradictions of so- called limousine liberals. People born into generations of privilege, moving seamlessly between the most elite and exclusive sectors of society, but unceasingly concerned with others they consider elites: ironically inhabitants of the professions most likely to move members of the middle class upward. The conspiracy-minded might attribute this to a desire on the part of elites to attack the vehicles most likely to allow others into their club. I tend to think it's more likely that Lapham just doesn't understand how elite he is.