A new film: "The End of Poverty?"

A new film entitled The End of Poverty? is making its way around the film festivals. It premiered at Cannes in May, as an Official Selection of the 2008 Cannes Film Festival Critics Week as well as an Official Selection at over a dozen international film festivals.   This week, it was shown at Leeds, in the UK.  Here's the description from the festival's program:

The End of Poverty? + Oxfam Panel Discussion

The End of Poverty? asks a simple question: ‘with so much wealth in the world, why is there still so much poverty?’ Looking beyond the popular ‘solutions’, director Philippe Diaz asks if the true causes of poverty in a modern, globalised world originated in colonial times. From the barrios of Latin America to the slums of Africa, leading economists, politicians and activists warn how the developed nations are plundering the planet at a pace that outstrips its capacity to support life. Followed by a panel discussion event organized by Oxfam.

Contrary to appearances, Oxfam was not involved in the production of the film, but I'd be very interested to hear about the discussion which followed the film's showing. 

The film was financed by the Robert Schalkenbach Foundation, based in NYC, whose mission is to share the ideas of Henry George, known to readers of this blog.   (For those who arrived here by searching on the film's title, welcome!  Have a look around!  And check out this blog's sibling site, http://www.wealthandwant.com/)

Here are comments from two bloggers who saw the film:

http://rolamcclary.blogspot.com/2008/11/end-of-poverty.html

Thursday, 6 November 2008
The End of Poverty?

Once again, reminding me of one of the first posts I ever made, Leeds International Film Festival is upon us, with a catalogue full of films I plan to go and see.

I made a start tonight, with a film from Oxfam: The End of Poverty? I went keeping in mind that perhaps the bias of the people behind the film would hinder its objectivity. However, I was pleased to say that I was presented with a greatly informed account of the events that have led up to the current, torrid global situation. I feel much less ignorant for it, and more able to speculate on the worsening future.

http://www.theendofpoverty.com/
Posted by Laura Stubbs at 14:56
Labels: environment, film, human rights

http://fancy-plants.blogspot.com/2008/11/leeds-film-festival-day-3.html

Fancyplants' Cracked Pot
My little cracked plant pot. Mind the roots.

Thursday, 6 November 2008
Leeds Film Festival - Day 3

The End of Poverty? (US) (site)

Created in partnership with Oxfam, this film deals with the question of why, when there is so much wealth in some parts of the world, there is destitute poverty in so many others. The film works from the time of the Spanish Conquistadores, who were the first western (labelled 'northern' in the film) power to start carving up the African and Asian land to invade, colonise and take over. Of course, Britan, alongside Holland, Portugal, France, Germany, Japan and many others followed and became owners of the lands that were not the property of anyone, and the indigenous peoples became part of the deal also. The capitalist engine thrived upon this influx of cheap slave labour and a culture of individualism (rather than a community sharing its resources) and forced Christianity reaped all it could from the soil and the rock of these countries, leaving the natives with barely anything they could call theirs.

As time passed and slavery was abolished, the western hunger could not stop there, and so in a number of repackaging exercises, slavery was reinvented time and time again, each one requiring a little less work by the owners and more by the slaves themselves. The slavery continues in various forms today, often because the country is mired in heavy debt it can never repay and so is at the mercy of the world bank and the multinationals who have set up industry, extracting raw materials and shipping the result back to the 'mother land'. It is this that leads to the statistic that far more money flows from poor to rich countries than the other way around.

It is a film packed with insights into how we have ended up in the situation we are in now, with some countries enjoying prosperity whilst others cannot seem to progress. It covers such a massive subject very well, almost like a super-documentary to which all others on the subject handle but a subset of the problem, and I would recommend it to anyone remotely curious as to why and how we in the west manage to live so well. 8/10

Again, Oxfam was not involved in the production of the film (though I'm sure RSF would welcome their interest), and I'd be interested in hearing about the discussion which followed the showing at Leeds.  Please post comments!

(I'll be posting more information on the film as time goes on.)

Comments

[Laura]

Thank you for commenting, and explaining the origins of the film. I was also unaware of Henry George, so I appreciate this link! Unfortunately by the time I had made my way to the Oxfam panel discussion, the room was at full capacity. I'd also like to know what was said.