From Massachusetts with Love: O’Shea Explores the U.S Wealth Divide Through One Man’s Utopian Experiment
A docu surrounding a hot button topic in both modern America and the rest of the world, All About the Money chronicles a singular personal situation through the son of a renewable energy Billionaire, James “Fergie” Chambers. Swiping at the competing elements of extreme wealth and activism as a dysfunctional, Irish docu helmer Sinéad O’Shea focuses on an impossible marriage where we follow Fergie’s idealistic scheme and chaotic life. He has created a free of charge, communist community for a select few residents in Massachusetts paying for everything and unabashedly tearing down the system he was himself a product. Through his support and funding of Pro Palestine rallies and protests we slowly uncover more of the man behind the millions. O’Shea asks the audience to question the fine balancing act between a true “fair” society, who to trust and the way to behave when the 0.01% don’t account for consequence — ultimately a documentary guided by noble intentions that mirror its subjects, yet one that travels a path too familiar to leave a lasting impact.
A large portion of the film focuses on the people inhabiting Fergie’s Marxist dreamscape. Light, uplifting music is the soundtrack to an idyllic slice of rural farm life – somewhere Fergie has created for a lucky handful to be a part of. Regi and his wife Jada are baffled at the state of America, rejecting capitalism and the systems Fergie seeks to destroy but ultimately living from a private benefactor. Paige who is closer with Fergie and more gung ho with her activism seems to be the quasi leader of the community despite fears of prison time for protesting. Kisha is a single mother whom Fergie seemingly plucked out of the cold and in her words “changed her life”. The residents each may or may not be more aligned with Fergie’s political mission, but they all have one thing in common: they rely on him wholly. This is at once better than the alternative and incredibly precarious.
Fergie himself is a complicated figure. It’s hard to know if his intentions are fully pure and the trauma from his past seems to carry in his very being. Covered in garish tattoos and smoking countless joints he’s skittish and singular in both his vision and personality. He vehemently despises America and has a Soviet Union symbol tattooed on his hand which becomes a common visual marker of the film. He and the film’s commentary are a multitude of contradictions. Fergie explains how he’d feel safer in Russia and how much he loves the country yet fails to go into any detail about Putin or their war with Ukraine. When heat from his protests catches up to him he later flees the Country to Tunisia where he converts to Muslim and buys a financially struggling football team on a whim, becoming a local hero. Here his egomania seems to catch up with him, especially when there’s trouble with Paige back home. Fergie is willing to indulge in the hospitality of a non-extradition country when it suits him. Like he says, If he didn’t have his money he’d probably be in jail.
The film’s craft doesn’t fully rise to the strength of its intentions — there is no new ground here, relying almost entirely on the strangeness of its subject to carry it. The point O’Shea is making surrounding capitalism is relevant but simplistic, never truly offering a unique perspective even when Fergie himself is in such a unique position. Extreme wealth breeds selfishness, with the ultra-rich prioritizing their own interests over helping the broader public.
Fergie’s transparency on the subject makes him less multifaceted as time wears on. He’s like Anwar Congo in The Act of Killing without the moments of existential realization – an unlikable man trying to do the right thing when it is truly impossible to do so. All About the Money offers a quasi-compelling portrait of a deeply psychologically damaged man with an unlikely goal but how truly valuable is it to give him a platform?
Reviewed on January 25th – 2026 Sundance Film Festival (41st edition) – World Cinema Documentary Competition section. 95 mins.
★★★/☆☆☆☆☆
