Charles Ferguson’s “Inside Job” does for the 2008 world economic meltdown what Michael Moore’s “Capitalism: A Love Story” failed miserably at. Though the filmmakers share a left-of-center philosophy (Ferguson directed the Iraq doc “No End in Sight”) definitvely lays out how decades of deregulation and unbridled greed led to the global economic collapse.

As did the revolving door between regulators every administration since Reagan’s, Wall Street, and academia. Handsomely photographed, it’s compelling and not at all dry — and blessedly free of Moore’s grandstanding.

It should give major agita to conservatives, who will set about sliming and mocking the inclusion of the disgraced Elliot Spitzer as a talking head, just like they to Al Gore and “An Inconvenient Truth” on its way to an Oscar Win. “Inside Job” is backed by the smart guys at Sony Pictures Classics, who will release it stateside this fall.