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America leads the world. But who, exactly, leads America? This "dramatic-documentary-musical" satirically examines our country's most taboo topic: class, power and privilege in our nominally democratic republic. At bottom the film is a morality tale, the story of two Yale students seeking their opportunities after graduation. They are conducted through the mysterious corridors of wealth and power by the renowned essayist and longtime Harper's Magazine editor Lewis Lapham, who poses the question, "To what end, the genius of the Wall Street banks and the force of the Pentagon's colossal weapons? Where does American discover the wisdom to play with its wonderful toys?" The answers they learn move beyond the empty distinction of party affiliation and into the very heart of American oligarchy. Wealth and power. The real-life luminaries they meet on their journey become characters in a dramatic story about power and its abuses. Our two graduates, "one rich and the other not so rich" must wrestle with their responsibilities. Should they seek to rule the world, or to save it? Featuring: Robert B. Altman, James A. Baker III, Bill Bradley, Harold Brown, Hodding Carter III, William T. Coleman, Jr., Walter Cronkie, Barbara Ehrenreich, Vartan Gretorian, Doug Henwood, Mike Medavoy, Joseph S. Nye, Jr., Samuel Peabody, Pete Seeger, Lawrence H. Summers, Arthur O. Sulzberger, Jr., William Howard Taft IV, Kurt Vonnegut, and Howard Zinn. Closed captioned. | |