Capital in the Twenty-First Century

Capital in the Twenty-First Century, directed by Justin Pemberton, is a documentary adapting French economist Thomas Piketty's bestselling book of the same name, which has sold more than two million copies worldwide. After its 2014 publication, the book spent three weeks atop the New York Times bestseller list, and some Nobel laureate economists have called it the most important book in economics since Adam Smith's Wealth of Nations. Piketty's central thesis holds that the rate of return on capital systematically exceeds the rate of economic growth over the long run, driving an ever increasing concentration of wealth; the film blends this theory with Piketty's own on camera narration, archival footage, and pop culture references. The film holds a 93 percent score from critics on Rotten Tomatoes, though some reviewers noted that a 696 page book's depth cannot be fully compressed into a hundred minute film. Who it's for: anyone curious about a bestselling, controversial economics book turned into an accessible documentary, narrated by its own author and illustrated with pop culture imagery. Who it's not for: those wanting the book's full academic depth and rigor, since the film goes through a substantial process of compression and simplification.