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Reviews Counted:18
Fresh:13
Rotten:5
Average Rating:6.6/10
Theatrical Release:Sep 26, 2007 Limited
Synopsis: Paul Newman narrates this documentary about the corrupt system surrounding sugar production in the Dominican Republic. Director Bill Haney follows the story of Father Christopher Hartley, a Spanish... [More]
Director: Bill Haney
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It's been conceived and executed as an instrument of human rights and a tool of shame. But it's the political controversy that's at the heart of this movie -- the contempt that one poor country feels toward its somewhat poorer neighbor.
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[A] no-frills doc, which isn't done any favors by Newman's monotone narration.
A vivid, visual experience that will easily convince skeptics that slavery is alive and well.
Few will doubt the priest's claims given the Dominican Republic's appalling human-rights record; one only wishes they had been explored in an objective documentary format.
The tainted relationship between the dessert on our tables and the suffering of those who produce it gets a horrifying workout in Bill Haney’s multilayered account of Haitian cane cutters in the Dominican Republic.
... even those naturally sympathetic to the film's position may feel like they're taking their medicine.
Haney doesn't strive for balance, and he doesn't have to; the images speak for themselves.
Top CriticIlluminating and deeply distressing.
In the end, this is a fevered tale of an outsider, spurred on by his belief in God, who believes his role in life is to save a people, and for a while it seems he is making a difference. What film can top that nowadays?
Like most documentary polemics, it simplifies the issues it confronts and selects facts that bolster its black-and-white, heroes-and-villains view of raw economic power.
Top CriticThese Haitian sugar slaves are starved, beaten, disappeared, malnourished, and lacking uncontaminated drinking water, even as other far more privileged foreigners frolic in the waters of the DR's tropical tourist paradise nearby.
Uplifting and enraging in equal measures, Bill Haney's The Price of Sugar is a powerful issue-driven documentary that also happens to have one of the most compelling heroes of any movie this year.
Profoundly disturbing.
Top CriticIn this compelling documentary, narrated by Paul Newman, Hartley comes off as a man of intense will, and he needs to be.
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The director's investigation has a clear-sighted persuasiveness, as well as a formidable, complex central figure in the person of Father Christopher Hartley.
A portrait of a modern-day saint, a courageous Spanish Catholic priest in the Dominican Republic with a ministry of compassion to poor, enslaved Haitian immigrants. One of the best documentaries of the year.
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Click to read the article
Top Critic
May 03, 2009:
These Haitian sugar slaves are starved, beaten, disappeared, malnourished, and lacking uncontaminated drinking water, even as other far more privileged foreigners frolic in the waters of the DR's tropical tourist paradise nearby. 
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September 09, 2008:
These Haitian sugar slaves are starved, beaten, disappeared, malnourished, and lacking uncontaminated drinking water, even as other far more privileged foreigners frolic in the waters of the DR's tropical tourist paradise nearby.
More...
December 14, 2007:
Trailer & Poster review
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November 20, 2007:
Fifteen Documentaries Vie for Oscar Consideration
A little over a week after reporting the names of the dozen films being submitted for Oscar consideration in the animated feature film category, Variety has given readers the... More...
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