Marx Reloaded

Marx Reloaded (2011)

Which pill will you take?

Marx Reloaded is a cultural documentary that examines the relevance of German socialist and philosopher Karl Marx's ideas for understanding the global economic and financial crisis of 2008-09. The crisis triggered the deepest global recession in 70 years and prompted the US government to spend more than 1 trillion dollars in order to rescue its banking system from collapse. Today the full implications of the crisis in Europe and around the world still remain unclear. Nevertheless, should we accept the crisis as an unfortunate side-effect of the free market? Or is there another explanation as to why it happened and its likely effects on our society, our economy and our whole way of life?

Date of release
2011-04-11
TMDB
6.2 / 10 (8)
Runtime
52m
Genres
Documentary, Animation
Director
Alexandra Weltz, Jason Barker

Casting

Interesting facts

Marx Reloaded is a 2011 German documentary film written and directed by the British writer and theorist Jason Barker. Featuring interviews with several well-known philosophers, the film aims to examine the relevance of Karl Marx's ideas in relation to the Great Recession. The film's title is a wordplay on The Matrix Reloaded, the sequel to The Matrix, which is parodied in the documentary.

Background

According to the film's website, "Marx Reloaded … examines the relevance of German socialist philosopher Karl Marx's ideas for understanding the global economic and financial crisis of 2008–09." The film also considers, in the context of an alleged revival of Marxist thinking, whether "communism might provide the solution to the growing economic and environmental challenges facing the planet".

In an interview with Verso Books, writer-director Jason Barker described his intention in making the film "to reload or reimagine Marx as a thinker, without the usual totalitarian moralising." Barker criticised the "cliché" according to which "Marx's diagnoses of capitalism are validated whereas his 'prescription' of communism is rubbished on the grounds that it's 'utopian'." Asked whether the renewed popularity of Marx is evidence of a return of…

In a separate interview, Barker also discussed the film's use of animation, in particular his decision to parody The Matrix, admitting that although it was an "obvious parody" and "fun to make", there was also a philosophical dimension to the animation scenes in which Marx meets Leon Trotsky and Slavoj Žižek.

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