newyorkerfilms – Aug 6, 2012
Jamaica, land of sea, sand and sun. And a prime example of the complexities of economic globalization on the world’s developing countries.
Using conventional and non-conventional documentary techniques, this searing film dissects the “mechanism of debt” that is destroying local agriculture and industry in Third World countries while substituting them with sweat-shops and cheap imports. With a voice-over narration written by Jamaica Kincaid, adapted from her non-fiction book “A Small Place,” “Life and Debt” is an unapologetic look at the “new world order” from the point of view of Jamaican workers, farmers, government and policy officials, who see the reality of globalization from the ground up.
The documentary film includes interviews with Former Prime Minister Michael Manley, Deputy Director of the International Monetary Fund Stanley Fischer, and short commentary by President of Haiti-Jean-Bertrand Aristide and Former President of Ghana-Jerry Rawlings. But the articulate voices of those impacted by the policies of globalization are foremost.
Transition Studies 