287. Generation Wealth; movie review

GENERATION WEALTH
Cert 18
106 mins
BBFC advice: Contains strong sexual images, suicide references

"Money makes the world go round" or so goes the song...
And yet, despite wealth being the American dream, it is clear that material gain cannot buy happiness.
Throughout Lauren Greenfield's Generation Wealth, Mrs W and I were left agog by the way its contributors put money before all else.
No surprise that most of them eventually regret not concentrating on the love of family of friends.
This is a very personal documentary in which Greenfield admits to her own excesses in terms of too much work and not enough family time.
But her transgressions are small beer compared to the 100-hour-a-week female executive who turns to a surrogate to bear her children.
Indeed, there is a concentration on the young people who have missed out because their parents are so driven.
Kids, it seems, are the same across the world - they care less about material goods than being the beneficiaries of their parents' time.
Greenfield has been interested in documenting wealth since she first started out as a film-maker more than two decades ago.
She returns to some of her earlier subjects in examining how materialism, status and celebrity culture has permeated the world.
Her work also spans the economic crash of 2008 and shows how some of those who pursued a dream of extraordinary wealth lost it all.
And it reflects on the current political scenario as evidence of how little society has learned and how we could be facing an even greater meltdown.
I felt that Greenfield navel-gazed for too much of the movie - questioning her mother on walking out on her family and even her own children on her absenteeism to work in far-flung places.
Mrs W disagreed and felt that this personalised the wider points which Greenfield was making about money and, consequently, work/life balance.
Either way, Generation Wealth is an uncomfortable watch for anyone in the material world and should makes us question our priorities.
However, I doubt that it will.

Reasons to watch: A frightening essay on the warping of the American dream
Reasons to avoid: Too much focus on the director's family

Laughs: None
Jumps: None
Vomit: None
Nudity: Yes
Overall rating: 7/10

Director quote - Lauren Greenfield: "I feel like it’s 2007. It feels like it’s right before the crash again. After the crash, a lot of the subjects of my work learned valuable lessons and said, “We’re never going to be like this again,” and then quickly relapsed. "

The big question - Why doesn't money buy happiness?

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