Michael Moore brings his take on US banking crisis to Venice

Sep 5, 2009, 10:20 GMT

Venice, Italy - Controversial US filmmaker Michael Moore was set Saturday to bring his highly anticipated documentary, Capitalism: A Love Story, to the Venice Film, Festival.

Moore has revealed little of the film ahead of its world premier in the Italian lagoon city, where it is competing for the festival's Golden Lion top prize.

But a trailer posted on the Youtube internet channel suggest it will deliver Moore's brand of brash, in your-face denunciation of what he believes to be wrong with US society - in this case the financial system that spawned the US banking crisis.

The footage shows Moore taking empty moneybags into merchant banks and asking a congressional regulator the most basic of questions: 'Where's our money?'.

His ambush-style targeting of potential interviewees was made famous in previous efforts: Bowling for Columbine, where he examined US gun-culture, Fahrenheit 9/11, a critical look at the Bush Administration's 'War on Terrorism' and Sicko, where he laid bare the shortcomings of the US health system.

Venice Film Festival organizers on Friday completed the selection of the 24 films in competition by screening what had previously been billed as a 'surprise' film - My Son, My Son, What Have Ye Done? by German director Werner Herzog.

Starring Willem Defoe, Michael Shannon and Chloe Sevigny it tells the story of a man who kills his mother and is reportedly loosely based on the real life case of a San Diego man, Mark Yarovsky, who inspired by Sophocles' character Orestes, stabbed and killed his mother with an antique saber.

The film's inclusion has earned Herzog, who is already running for the Golden Lion with the noir thriller Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans, the distinction of being the only director in the Venice Film Festival's recent history of having two films in competition.

Inaugurated in 1932, this year's edition of the Venice Film Festival runs from September 2 to 12.