Life and Debt (2001)
Tomatometer
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Reviews Counted:42
Fresh:38
Rotten:4
Average Rating:7.3/10
Runtime: 86 mins
Genre: Education/General Interest
Synopsis: LIFE AND DEBT is a searing documentary from director Stephanie Black that examines the ways that policies of the International Monetary Fund (I.M.F.), the World Bank, and other aid organizations... [More]
Director: Stephanie Black
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Reviews for Life and Debt
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Click to read the article Full Review |
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Powerfully illustrates what globalization has been doing to underdeveloped countries around the world. Full Review |
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It is an instructive story of exploitation. Full Review |
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This case study of globalization's effects on Jamaica is a timely, never dull piece of agitprop that comes off as a cross between Godard's social protest docs and The Harder They Come. Full Review |
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5/5 |
Stephanie Black puts into context the differences between the Jamaica seen by tourists and the country inhabited by its oppressed people.
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Talking heads are intercut to synthesise theory and practice, but as an economic diatribe this is a bit patronising and not wholly persuasive. Full Review |
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As documentaries about economics go, this one is way, way up at the top. Full Review |
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C+ |
Its potent message deserves to be heard. Full Review |
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1/4 |
Try to imagine the most boring lecture you've ever sat through, and you might have a vague conception of what it's like watching Life and Debt. Full Review |
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4/5 |
Here is a documentary that should be mandatory viewing for anyone interested in globalisation that, war or no war, remains one of the most contentious issues of our times. Full Review |
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4/4 |
Puts a human face — many human faces — on the debt crisis and the effects of open trade on a Third World country. Full Review |
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A powerful, intelligently-assembled documentary from American director Stephanie Black, which explores the devastating impact of globalisation upon the Caribbean island of Jamaica. Full Review |
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4/5 |
As an expose of such international carpetbagging, Life + Debt is brilliant stuff. Full Review |
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2.5/5 |
However attractive the axe to grind, the haphazard lacework of narration, filmed television screen, disconnected scenes and endless headshots do not make for cinema, documentary or otherwise. Full Review |
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A must-see for everyone who wants to understand the human cost of globalization. Full Review |
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3/5 |
It is provocative and highly resonant, and informative without being dry or terminally academic. Full Review |
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3.5/4 |
Fairly harsh, sobering stuff. Full Review |
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1.5/4 |
I found myself daydreaming, looking at my watch, dozing off. Full Review |
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3.5/5 |
An eye-opener and a primer on why the IMF and the World Bank are not to be trusted by emerging third-world countries. Full Review |
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3.5/5 |
Black's tactics are heavy-handed, but her ability to efficiently organize the complex material at hand and capture telling imagery makes Life and Debt an equally elegant and vitriolic diatribe. Full Review |
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