Life and Debt (2001)

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 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. This film is an adaption of Jamaica Kincaid's novel "A Small Place," originally based on the story of Antigua (changed to Jamaica for the purposes of this film). If you enjoy the movie, be sure to read the book. In the film, as in the novel, Kincaid's voice-over narration is a powerful reminder of the complicated relationship between tourist and native, powerful and powerless, oppressors and oppressed. I would recommend this documentary to anyone interesting in how developed nations like the United States affect the development of Third World countries like Jamaica, even if you know nothing about it.

The movie makes you think and question the motives of rich and powerful organizations. If you care at least a little bit about what's happening in the world, you should definitely take the time to see this movie. It talks about the negative effects of globalization in developing countries. Perfect example of "the rich are getting richer because the poor are getting poorer." Shows the social implications of IMF policies and the human tragedy, Economic strangling of developing countries, total dominance over them financially, abuse of power, leaving no other choice but to agree to the terrible terms of big organizations. Many ordinary workers speak up. Great movie !

"Life and Debt" documents the extremely negative effects "globalization" has on the Jamaican economny and agriculture. Juxtaposing typical tourist views with searingly challenging economic conditions of Jamaican natives, the audience begins to see a side of this culture normally hidden away. Hearing representatives from the International Monetary Fund and World Bank talk, one recognizes the familiar rhetoric--administrative jargon which obscures its callous action: look out for one's self first and foremost.Well-known US companies are documented here as part of the problem. Their motivation is to make a profit, period, no matter at what cost or human price. American stockholders tend here to look at and be primarily concerned with how many points their shares rise--"Life and Debt" shows the downside of that rise. There's a lot more to life than merely being concerned about one's self. This film cries out for us to hear the needy call of our planetary brother and sister. Capitalism and competition tend to be cold animals--and one buys into those concepts because they're in place and operating . . . never stopping to think that there may be an exploitative side to these activities.Stephanie Black captures that side in this documentary. The tourists are rightly there to have a good time, yet we cannot turn our backs on our neighbors. Imposing grossly high interest rates and stipulations that cause them to sink greater into debt each year is not aiding them. Unloosing our subsidized powered milk on their marketplace while their unsold whole milk must be poured down the drain is not being fair.When rioters and demonstrators took to the streets there and in the US against globalization, I wondered what it was all about. "Life and Debt" helped provide a subsantive explanation. The film is not an entertainment: it is a serious, thought-provoking film to inform. As I sat in a near-empty movie house, with some people leaving before the end of the film, I wondered where was the audience? I thought, are we not all involved in this scenario? When we buy items "assembled in" Jamaica, do we really realize what that means in terms of "free zone?"When we delight in paying very low prices for items made in China, Japan, Mexico, and the like, how does that really impact upon those countries' workers? "Life and Debt" helps provide an answer. I very much value this documentary, and look forward to obtaining the dvd when released, to further ponder world economic check and balances and rethink the entire concept of "globalization."

This documentary perfectly captures the largely-ignored downside to globalization and the subsequent domination of the world economy by the U.S. and Western Europe. Namely, that undeveloped and developing countries continue to get poorer at the expense of the rich. This documentary presents the human side for discussions about the impact of multinational corporations on human rights abuses, price fixing in order to drive local competition into failure, environmental destruction as the result of World Bank-mandated "structural adjustments," etc. This is a must see for anyone who thinks that globalization is the only way for developing countries to compete with the rest of the world, and for anyone wanting to know the reasons behind all of those protests.