Was this review helpful? Latin American banana workers earn $1 a day; Jamaicans can't live on that. You don't need a master's degree in Economics, however, to understand the desperate faces of children in poverty, the agony of farmers who can't sell their crops, or the hopelessness of factory workers who earn the equivalent of thirty US dollars per week. Was this review helpful? Yes, tourists do act that badly, almost unanimously if you only count the ones who spend their time here locked away in a guarded resort. And now over half of ever tax dollar goes to paying foreign debt... As the gushing reviews on this site attest - this documentary panders to the anti- globalisation, protectionist conspiracy theorists, using emotionally-charged but intellectually challenged arguments that fits their narrow, misinformed view of the world. ''Life and Debt,'' a documentary by Stephanie Black, with a commentary written by Jamaica Kincaid, looks at the effect of the International Monetary Fund on the economy of Jamaica. One often hears critiques of international capitalism and the lending policies of the IMF and World Bank, but in most cases the criticism lacks pertinent examples of the direct impacts of globalization, or fails to make an effective case for why we should care. This is a mordant and devastating documentary, beautifully shot, about the obscene unfairness of "free trade". There are no approved quotes … 20 out of 23 found this helpful. This is a really tragic and shattering film. An IMF-backed small business loan in Jamaica might carry 25 percent interest.
(C+)
These assets allow what could have been a very dry and abstract film to instead comfortably hold the audience's interest. Was this review helpful?
See all 20 reviews on Metacritic.com More Critic Reviews Based on the novel by Jamaica Kincaid A Small Place, Life and Debt, the film studies the effects of the policies of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank on the economy of Jamaica, focusing on the impact of economic globalization on the dairy farmers and factory workers. ; posits no plan for the future; and seems to do little more than complain. Many ordinary workers speak up. 2 out of 5 found this helpful. 9 out of 12 found this helpful. Was this review helpful? Beyond the luxury hotels, however, is a third world country fighting poverty, crime, and hopelessness. Life and Debt is an arresting, soul-stirring documentary with fantastic images and a story that will haunt you long after the movie is over. I do not have the expertise to say. The film is interspersed with scenes of oblivious American tourists enjoying their vacations at expensive Jamaican resorts safely isolated from the surrounding poverty, to highlight the developed world's ignorance about the plight of Jamaica and similar underdeveloped countries. I hope that watching it makes you reconsider what you know about how the world works economically, and the role of the International Monetary Fund and World Bank. In 1975, he won the Pulitzer Prize for distinguished criticism. Review of Life or Debt 2010 by Stacy Johnson (and Giveaway) Advertiser Disclosure This article/post contains references to products or services from one or more of our advertisers or partners. The biggest irony of Black's film is that it could have an unintended backlash, negatively impacting Jamaica's last flourishing industry - tourism. IMF policies can be changed only by an 80 percent vote. Failing to make a case for Jamaica, whose woes pale compared to Africa, "Life and Debt" comes off as a sort of plaintive cursory examination of the decline of Jamaica's economy which is, in the global scheme of things, of little consequence or significance. Unfortunately the film does little more than ask questions and illustrate the same problems which beset most of the third world while offering no solutions and pointing the finger of blame in the same direction everyone else points it, at the World Bank and IMF. ''You ask, whose interest is the IMF serving?'' 7. Have you ever wondered where your bananas come from? Most Americans have been bewildered by the anti-globalization protesters at recent meetings of the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank. It is a very honest and yet artistically distinguished portrait of the demise of a Caribbean nation - Jamaica. 9 out of 12 found this helpful. Labor unions are banned, working conditions are subhuman, strikers are forced back to work at gunpoint, and paychecks are taxed for health and retirement schemes that don't seem to exist. See how thousands of gallons of fresh milk have to be spilled into the Jamaican ground because of cheap powdered milk coming in from the States.