In-your-face filmmaker Michael Moore came to Pittsburgh instead of Hollywood last night to show his latest rabble-rousing documentary, "Capitalism: A Love Story" to its first American audience, a spirited group of union workers energized by the AFL-CIO convention Downtown.
A last-minute change of plans and an invitation from the convention's organizers brought Mr. Moore to the city, where he emboldened a crowd with stories of union struggles and victories, then led what he called a "march in support of single-payer health care" down Penn Avenue.
The crowd of 1,400, by organizers' estimates, then filed into the Byham Theater, where Mr. Moore's populist film elicited more hoots and cheers.
Critics have said "Capitalism" stands to be the Oscar-winner's most controversial documentary yet; it not only denounces capitalism as a flawed economic system but also as one that is morally evil.
The Pittsburgh audience groaned when images of Ronald Reagan and corporate leaders flashed on the screen and cooed during the documentary's darker moments, like when a tearful woman talks about losing to foreclosure the home she helped design and build on her family's farm.
Speaking at the David L. Lawrence Convention Center before the premiere, Mr. Moore touched on a range of issues and lamented an economic system that, he said, puts the interests of a rich and powerful few above just about everyone else.
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