British comedian turned politial activist, Russell Brand,and celebrated British director, Michael Winterbottom, have released a new documentary film about the financial crisis. It is named 'The Emperor's New Clothes' referring to the Hans Christian Andersen fairytale in which two tricksters promise a vain emperor a new suit which will be invisible to the stupid and ignorant. Neither the Emperor nor his ministers can see the suit when he finanlly tries it on, but no one will admit it for fear of appearing stupid themselves, until during a parade, a child, unconcerned with pretences, shouts, “But he isn't wearing anything at all!”, exposing the hypocrisy and pride of the the emperor and his court.
Winterbottom told BBC Radio 4, “It's about inequality and why the 1% [of the world's wealthy] seem to have so much and the rest of us not quite so much…Everyone knows about equality and what's going on in the world, so the idea is to point out the ludicrous extremes of our society,” as the title hints.
This trailer features Brand questioning bankers over bonuses and bailouts.
The film is set to debut in London on April 15th.
https://youtube.com/watch?v=U4Geq8dM13k