This tremendous little documentary has an unlikely provenance: it was made by a Sydney investment broker, Ian Darling, and records his pilgrimage (there is no other word for it) to Omaha, Nebraska, for the annual shareholders’ weekend of one of the world’s most successful companies, Berkshire Hathaway.

The chairman and CEO of Berkshire Hathaway is Warren Buffett, 70 years old and one of the world’s best business brains, investing his way to a $30 billion fortune.

Buffett is Darling’s hero: a man who invests successfully, ethically, and with a down-home folksy style.

A person who invested $10,000 in Berkshire Hathaway 22 years ago would be sitting on $4 million today.

The shareholder’s meeting – the largest in the world – is a millionaire’s convention. It is held in a concert hall, and the atmosphere is somewhere between a rock concert and the Sermon on the Mount. People queue outside from 3.15 am to be sure of a good view of Buffett and his vice-chairman, Charlie Munger.

Munger tells Darling that the annual meeting is " a kind of celebration", a way for shareholders to declare, "I’m very wise and very rich".

Buffett has simple tastes. He lives in an unassuming house in unassuming Omaha. He likes steak sandwiches, hash browns and Dairy Queen ice-cream. He goes to the barber in the basement of his corporate headquarters. He drives an old car, carries a battered briefcase and doesn’t dress expensively because "expensive suits look cheap on me".

His investment tastes are an affirmation of the (literal) value of commonsense. Rule Number One is: "Never lose money". And Rule Number Two? "Never forget Rule Number One". He invests in companies with business so simple "even I can understand them", with economics and management he likes. That means no dot coms. Buffett comes over as likable and humble: "I’m an accident of time and geography".

His "cigar -butt approach" of buying cheap is balanced by Munger’s eye for quality. The audience hang on their every word, and jostle to be photographed with their heroes. They converge on his favorite restaurant and ice-cream outlet. They buy souvenirs featuring Buffett’s face, and display dollar –bills bearing Buffett’s autograph as though they were holy relics.

There are quasi-religious overtones about much that goes on in Omaha. Certainly Darling and his colleague, Mark Nelson, are devoted disciples.It’s not a critical view, but viewing Buffett and his followers through the eyes of the converted is fascinating.

(Photo caption: Preaching to the converted: Ian Darling, left, with his hero, billionaire businessman Warren Buffett, in Woodstock for Capitalists).

Jenny Tabakoff

The Sunday Age (Melbourne) – Television, March 11 - 17
The Big Picture: Woodstock For Capitalists
Thursday, ABC, 9.30pm
* * * *

The big surprise of this week’s TV schedule. Sydney investor Ian Darling’s report on a meeting with his hero, American billionaire Warren Buffett, is lively, informative and also, dare we say it, a lot of fun.

It covers the annual pilgrimage of some 15,000 business faithful to Omaha, Nebraska, for the Berkshire Hathaway annual shareholders’ meeting. Not just a millionaire’s convention this, it’s an extraordinary folksy gathering around a conservative mid-west guru who, over the past 30 years, has brought investors remarkable record returns of 23 per cent on their money.

Thanks to co-producer Michael Cordell ( of Year Of The Dogs ) and Darling’s energetic performance, you can’t help but get swept up by the enthusiasm of this rewarding film. Don’t miss it.

Brian Courtis

The Sydney Morning Herald – Entertainment, March 15
The Big Picture
9.30pm, ABC:

"Woodstock for Capitalists"- that’s how they describe the AGM of Berkshire Hathaway, an American investment company run by Warren Buffett and Charlie Munger.

We’re all supposed to be shareholders these days – investors, preferably in Australian-owned companies (such as are left) or in organisations which we used to own collectively but which have been sold back to us by our ever-magnanimous politicians or board members of the NRMA under the stewardship of Sir Les Whitlam. Can anyone in the investment scene be trusted?

Trust a whimsical concept to traders (as is abundantly evident in The Midas Formula, an SBS doco screening on March 24). Like Myriad Corp’s Mr Hocketp, Warren Buffett’s ultimate aim is to make money. And he does. But he does it decently and, according to this very watchable program, with a sense of fun and process - not just profit.

"Someone is sitting in the shade today because someone planted a tree a long time ago", says Buffett. One of a string of homilies that wouldn’t go astray in a Phantom comic.

These aphorisms, which Buffett applies to his business affairs, have made him fabulously wealthy. He’s worth over $30 billion but is giving it all away – much of it to local schools.

He likes ice-cream, steak and baseball, more like Jimmy Buffett than a stockmarket guru.

What a refreshing antidote to the loathsome, rapacious jerks who sullied the screen last year in Bulls and Bears and who reappear in The Midas Touch, gibbering, screeching and seething for a buck and a BMW.

"Woodstock for Capitalists", made by Sydney broker Ian Darling-with the help of Michael Cordell-is a drooling, full-frontal adulation, and fair enough.

Buffett is a hero, with values and affability. He calls himself an accident of time and geography but it’s his ethics, commonsense and decency that make him unusual, not his billions.

Can’t see him pouring investment capital into gene testing or people smuggling when the first licensed transmigration companies are listed on the stock exchange.

Doug Anderson

Herald-Sun (Melbourne) – March 15
Top Choice * * * * *
The Big Picture - Woodstock For Capitalists
(Two, 9.30pm)

If you’re into how the wealthy become wealthy then you’ll find a lot to like about this one.

Warren Buffett is a self-made American billionaire and guru to investors.

Aussie investment manager Ian Darling is in Nebraska for the annual shareholders meeting of Buffett’s company Berkshire Hathaway.

But rather then a meeting of 15,000 shareholders, it’s more of a festival, Buffett’s own woodstock.

Robert Fidgeon
The Herald and Weekly Times