BY JAMES SIMONS
Russell Brand has appeared in another documentary kicking up some fuss about economic justice. The documentary, produced by Melissa Parmeter features Michael Winter bottom. Reciting the plot of the original Hans Christian Andersen story in a voice-over, Brand is typically assertive and critical. The Essex born comedian looks into the camera and says, “Everything you’re going to hear about, you already know.” It makes one wonder why he sees it fit to flog a better already known to us, though he could be forgiven for saying he just wants to remind us of this.
However, a long lecture on how the rich keep getting richer at the expense of “the 99 percent” is something we have already heard several times. The vast majority of people probably want to know how they can also become rich rather than hearing how the stagnant position of their financial well being is doomed by the endeavours of the rich. Such rhetoric is hardly stimulating and only raising the valid question as to why Brand seems so obsessed with inequality levels when his own dealings and contractual engagements also promotes his economic status and becomes tantamount to the acquisition of wealth he so readily detests.
EMPATHY
Brand seeks to strengthen his point by collating a number of views from a variety of people interviewed, and curiously goes further to reflect on the events in Wall Street over the past decade, though his greater interest in how changes on a global scale have impacted his hometown of Grays in Essex may reveal some level of empathy he has for those with not so dissimilar a background from himself. Perharps the outspoken activist has been put up to this from some of his old friends from the area or he simply resents the unfair treatment he believes they are being subjected to by a government he vocally disapproves.It would be interesting to have a clip of Brand at school so we can compare it with the vociferous activist he has turned out to be.
It would even be greater if Brand could cite examples of any people from his hometown he has helped financially to climb up the ladder, so that we can at least say for sure that this oxford educated man who sometimes contradicts the wisdom normally expected from graduates of this elite institution, truly cares for the ordinary people as he so strongly proclaims.
Examining the way privatization, tax cuts, and corporate franchising havelimited the ability of hardworking citizens to reap the rewards of their labour, Brand makes reference to individuals who work two jobs but can’t afford to send their kids to college. The documentary which has had over 700 reviews and is rated 7/10 is a better success than the debacle of the one on his life that drew a small 23 viewers:’Russell Brand the second coming’, and may be a confirmation that Brand can still turn some heads when involved in a doc that isn’t solely about his life taken from jis own biased perspective as he really wanted it to be. Interesting clips from the documentary show Brand attempting to confront those dodging taxes and depriving pensioners of their due, only to wind up discomforting the security guards hired to keep these people from people like him and alot worse.
The truth is that there is some nobility in Brand’s general mission to help the deprived millions of this country. Not enough people take this kind of task on board. However, his mission will be alot more credible and honourable if we saw him commit some of his own millions to bridge the inequality gap he would like to see disappear.
