Today, tax, trade, and unfair debt have pushed poverty all over the world to new levels. In other words, the weaknesses of poor, developing countries are being exploited by affluent countries. Philippe Diaz’s bold, disconcerting, and powerful documentary “The End of Poverty?” opens our eyes to the fact that that poverty is not a mere mishap and the victims are not to blame. This refreshing and straightforward documentary not only exposes poverty but also tries to get to the root cause of why so many people are living so poorly and are dying of malnutrition in affluent societies. Like other films that expose poverty, this documentary also contains first person stories of those who are on dying on a daily basis and scenes of starving children. However, the film uses these scenes serve as a thought-provoking argument to expose ‘planned’ poverty. Every politician in the world should watch Philippe Diaz’s documentary film.
Philippe Diaz's “The End of Poverty?” because of its well-timed subject ends up being an accusation of the colonialism because of which the free market system emerged, ultimately lead to the current economic catastrophe in the world. The film takes us to when the Age of Colonization first began back in 1429 through the European conquest. The conquest led to the first form of globalization by connecting the continents of the world. The typical definition of colonialism is “the policy or practice of acquiring full or partial political control over another country, occupying it with settlers, and exploiting it economically” ("Definition of colonialism"). Álvaro García Linera, the Bolivian vice president, presents his opinion stating that “Colonialism is always part of the expansion of capitalism” (Diaz, 2008). Diaz's documentary film strongly argues that capitalism is the reason behind the inequality between the poor and the rich, a question about capitalism that no one is willing to face these days.
The thesis of “The End of Poverty?” traces back the global poverty back to 1492. That was when the bold and fearless frontiersmen of Portugal and Spain set forth to explore the Americas to destroy local culture, and steal resources. Diaz’s documentary argues that is still happening today, where the Southern hemisphere is being forced ever deeper into poverty by the Northern one in order to maintain its capitalist lifestyle. In his documentary, Diaz also takes the liberty of reminding his audience that 80% of the world’s resources are being by 20% of its population (Nagle, 1999, p.107). While this may not be shocking for those who are lacking these resources, Diaz is trying to tell that 20% that they are being ignorant by not leaving so little for the remaining 80% of the population and driving them into poverty. Diaz’s documentary is reminding us that over the past 30 years, capitalism has been victorious all over the globe.
It is apparent that Philippe Diaz has tried hard to prevent his documentary from becoming too discrete and theoretical so that it is appealing to a wider audience, especially those who should be seeing it and thinking about the message the film is trying to convey that poverty is not incidental. Diaz’s documentary film describes poverty as a coordinated and planned effort by developed countries to own the means of production and survival of developing and underdeveloped countries. Developed countries are fortunate for not being downrightly accused of colonization even though they are continuously colonizing resource rich regions of the world. Developed countries are enslaving the economics of developing and underdeveloped countries, substituting food, medicine, and water for chains and shackles. Diaz does not give the audience a solution to abolish poverty by the end of the film. However, the film does inspire them and provide them with the means to address their own part in the continuation of poverty.
One of the interesting things about Diaz’s documentary is that he unknowingly or perhaps intentionally draws parallels between the developed and the underdeveloped countries. Harmful farm subsidies exist in the United States as well (Riedl, 2007). Even in the United States affordable drugs (Judd) and health care systems are made inaccessible by pharmaceutical companies, making it almost impossible for the poor to afford health care. The film contains interviews of South Americans who are mourning about child prostitution and slave labor, and Africans expressing their grief over the loss of homes from flood waters. Of course, problems such as these are also prevalent in the United States. Like underdeveloped countries, there are homeless people in New Orleans as well (Reckdahl, 2011), East Los Angeles has the most laborer immigrants (Pastor & Ortiz, 2009), and teenage prostitutes roam the streets of the Bronx (Conley, 2010). In other words, while United States might be devouring poorer countries, it is devouring itself as well.
Some viewers might criticize the “The End of Poverty?” for not providing any real answer or solution to poverty, and being preachy. However, watching the film should be inspirational enough to make the rich realize the consequence of their obsession with capitalism (Albert, 1993). Overall, it is evident that Diaz spent a lot of time doing research for the film and it is a film worth watching for the way it presents global poverty. This documentary film provides a splendid history of the policies because of which global poverty occurred in the first place, and also the policies because of which poverty continues and rises today. Anyone who wants to get an insight on the issues explored in the film from the perspective of the poor is recommended to watch this film. After watching this documentary film, the conclusion that can be reached is that humans are humans after all, and they will continue conquering others as much as possible.
References
Albert, M. (1993). Capitalism vs. capitalism: How america's obsession with individual achievement and short-term profit has led it to the brink of collapse. Basic Books.
Conley, K. (2010, Nov 1). Bronx pimp convicted in teen prostitution ring. Retrieved from http://www.nypost.com/p/news/local/bronx/bronx_pimp_convicted_in_teen_prostitution_hgozSm8GPoiFUZuVNetgwJ
Definition of colonialism. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://oxforddictionaries.com/us/definition/american_english/colonialism
Diaz, P. (Director) (2008). The end of poverty? [DVD]. Available from http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0903943/
Judd, J. (n.d.). Drug companies preventing generic drugs. Retrieved from http://abcnews.go.com/WNT/story?id=131069&page=1
Nagle, G. (1999). Development and underdevelopment. Thomas Nelson.
Pastor, M., & Ortiz, R. (2009, Jan). Immigrant integration in los angeles. Retrieved from http://csii.usc.edu/documents/immigrant_integration.pdf
Riedl, B. M. (2007, Jun 20). How farm subsidies harm taxpayers, consumers, and farmers, too. Retrieved from http://www.heritage.org/research/reports/2007/06/how-farm-subsidies-harm-taxpayers-consumers-and-farmers-too
