For the past few years, filmmaker Jacob Kornbluth has teamed up with Robert Reich, former Secretary of Labor and current professor of public policy, through their non-profit called Inequality Media. Their mission is to “inform and engage the public about inequality and imbalance of power,” which they do in part by creating short videos to explain complicated economic issues. Despite the somewhat wonky subject matter, the videos have gained a viral following online.
Kornbluth credits the interest in their work to Americans’ current frustrations, and he hopes to offer some explanation of how the country got here in his new documentary featuring Reich, called Saving Capitalism.
As Kornbluth told TIME, “When I started making Saving Capitalism the frontrunners for the election were Jeb Bush and Hillary Clinton. And what Reich’s great insight was, that I thought was interesting enough to pick up a camera for, is that this would be the last establishment year before something anti-establishment would change the whole political economic system. I didn’t know that Trump was going to win the election. I don’t think Reich knew if Trump was going to win the election. But you could see that the big story coming was this giant anti-establishment wave. You could see if you just looked at the economic system that for many years people were getting screwed. They were getting frustrated. And they were going to change the way we thought of what it meant to be a Democrat or a Republican. So we knew that going into the film.”
Saving Capitalism debuts on Netflix Nov. 21.
More Must-Reads from TIME
- How Donald Trump Won
- The Best Inventions of 2024
- Why Sleep Is the Key to Living Longer
- Robert Zemeckis Just Wants to Move You
- How to Break 8 Toxic Communication Habits
- Nicola Coughlan Bet on Herself—And Won
- Why Vinegar Is So Good for You
- Meet TIME's Newest Class of Next Generation Leaders
Contact us at letters@time.com