The American Ruling Class

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The American Ruling Class
Directed by John Kirby
Produced by Libby Handros
Written by Lewis Lapham
Starring Lewis Lapham
Paul Cantagallo
Caton Burwell
Music by Qasim Naqvi
Lucas Johnson-Yahraus
Cinematography Mark Benjamin
Editing by John Kirby
Leah O’Donnell
Release date(s) April 26, 2005
Running time 100 min
Country Flag of the United States United States
Flag of the United Kingdom United Kingdom
Language English
Official website
Allmovie profile
IMDb profile

The American Ruling Class (2005) is a dramatic documentary film written by Lewis Lapham and directed by John Kirby that "explores our country’s most taboo topic: class, power and privilege in our nominally democratic republic."[1] It seeks to answer the question, "Does America have a ruling class?" Its producers consider it the first "dramatic-documentary-musical."[2]

The film made its debut at the 2005 TriBeCa Film Festival and its theatrical release was in early 2006.

Contents

[edit] Cast

The film stars Lewis Lapham, who plays himself as editor of Harper's Magazine, Paul Cantagallo, as "Mark Vanzetti" (a new Yale graduate from a "not-so-rich" economic background), and Caton Burwell as "Jack Bellami" (a new Yale graduate from a wealthy background). The names of these fictional characters could be construed as references to Bartolomeo Vanzetti and the Guy de Maupassant novel Bel Ami.

The following people are interviewed:

[edit] See Also

[edit] References

  1. ^ 2005 Tribeca Film Festival Electronic Press Kit
  2. ^ How the Ruling Class thwarts democracy

[edit] External Links