Talking heads are intercut to synthesise theory and practice, but as an economic diatribe this is a bit patronising and not wholly persuasive.
Comment
06/24/06
Life and Debt (2001)
90
%
Tomatometer
How does the Tomatometer work 
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
Reviews for Life and Debt
Top CriticA powerful, intelligently-assembled documentary from American director Stephanie Black, which explores the devastating impact of globalisation upon the Caribbean island of Jamaica.
03/04/03
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.
03/25/03
Top CriticAs an expose of such international carpetbagging, Life + Debt is brilliant stuff.
02/26/03
Top CriticIt is an instructive story of exploitation.
08/20/07
Click to read the article
10/18/08
I found myself daydreaming, looking at my watch, dozing off.
04/14/02
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.
08/01/03
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.
12/08/02
As documentaries about economics go, this one is way, way up at the top.
02/25/04
A travelogue with teeth.
12/06/01
The lecturer -- I mean, narrator -- would be more effective if she toned it down a bit, but she gets her message across nonetheless.
01/10/02
Life and Debt often feels like a cheap shot, but it can still pack a wallop.
12/20/01
Stephanie Black puts into context the differences between the Jamaica seen by tourists and the country inhabited by its oppressed people.
10/05/06
A sad, terrible picture, not the way you want to see yourself reflected at all.
12/15/01
Some films are not meant to be entertainments. Some are 'simply' truth tellers. To the brave list add Life and Debt.
02/15/02
Its potent message deserves to be heard.
08/06/03
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.
08/20/07
Top CriticPolitically devastating but all too one-sided documentary on the effect that globalizations has allegedly had on Jamaica.
02/08/02
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.
03/03/02
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