‘All About The Money’ review: Astute study of wealth, ideology and influence in modern America

Dir/scr: Sinead O’Shea. Ireland. 2026. 95mins

Director Sinead O’Shea is obliged to follow the story where it leads in All About The Money. Her portrait of James ‘Fergie’ Chambers, dubbed ‘America’s go-to radical communist’ by Vanity Fair, is constantly at the mercy of Chambers’ chaotic life choices and the impact of global events. O’Shea’s quiet persistence captures a complex, contradictory picture of an individual whose story touches on bigger issues of extreme wealth, power and privilege in modern America. Healthy festival interest seems likely to follow a premiere in Sundance’s World Cinema Documentary competition.

O’Shea’s patience at following the twists and turns of this story is rewarded

O’Shea has previously been drawn to charismatic, strong-willed individuals, notably in Blue Road: The Edna O’Brien Story (2024) and her debut feature A Mother Brings Her Son To Be Shot (2017). Chambers is no exception. The son of billionaires James Cox Chambers and Lauren Hamilton, he cut ties with his relatives, sold his shares in Cox Enterprises and was left with a personal fortune reportedly in excess of $250 million.

His early years of privilege, rebellion and punishment have left him determined to oppose the evils of capitalism. He funds leftist causes, pays legal fees and invests in community projects. In Alford, Massachusetts, he supports a Marxist-Leninist collective, providing a handful of individuals with accommodation and an income as they work the land, study and strive to create a training centre for professional revolutionaries. The collective includes six houses, and a barn that also serves as a gym.

There are vague echoes of Animal Farm in a situation that seems too good to be true. The film begins in a plush hotel suite in Ireland where Chambers is about to bear his soul to O’Shea. She reflects that this is far from what she had anticipated when they first began filming. We then flashback to two years earlier, when O’Shea started the journey towards a better understanding of the mercurial Chambers and his whirlwind life.

O’Shea is an unobtrusive presence throughout the film and her style of empathy and gently probing questions is clearly about seeking information rather than confrontation. Chambers is a garrulous, impetuous figure with bold ambitions and seems to grow at ease in her company. Befriending members of the community at Alford, O’Shea starts to understand the impact that Chambers has on their lives. He may want to embrace communism but he is still the one who holds the power in these and other relationships.

Cinematographer Enda O’Dowd takes the viewer on a journey through the individual homes and communal spaces at Alford. Along the way, we see pictures of Stalin and Mao, posters of Che Guevara and books that promise revolution. How Chambers’ ambition for change translates into the real world becomes one of the defining elements of the film.

The October 7 Hamas attacks on Israel in 2023, and Chambers’ reaction to them, take the film in an entirely different direction. O’Shea holds on through huge changes in Chambers’ life, including his departure from the US, and marriage to Stella Schnabel, the daughter of Julian Schnabel, in 2024.

Incorporating the stories of people at Alford, including activist Paige Belanger, dilutes some of the focus on Chambers but also shows the way that individuals in his orbit can become collateral damage. Chambers is generous and caring at times, callous and self-serving at others, and always distracted by the next thing to catch his attention – he is such a slippery character that there is a sense that O’Shea may have bitten off more than she can chew. There are many aspects of his life that are not addressed.

O’Shea’s patience at following all the twists and turns of this story is finally rewarded. In later conversations, Chambers shares some of the vulnerability and trauma that have shaped him. A troubled mixture of philanthropist, activist, rich kid and restless spirit, Chambers is often not a sympathetic figure but by the end of All About The Money we do feel we know him a little better.