Life and Debt
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DVD details
Actor: Â Buju Banton Belinda BeckerBrand: MUSIC VIDEO DISTRIBUTORS
DVD: Region Code 1
Audio: English (Unknown), Dolby Digital 2.0 Surround; English (Original Language), Dolby Digital 2.0 Surround
Format: Anamorphic, Color, DVD, Full Screen, NTSC, Widescreen
Picture Format: 1.85:1
Running Time: 86 minutes
DVD Release Date: 2003-06-24
Audience Rating: NR (Not Rated)
Model: NYF83003DVD
Studio: New Yorker
Product features:
- This 86 minute feature film, directed by Stephanie Black with narration written by Jamaica Kincaid (based on "A Small Place") takes a hard look at IMF and the anti-globalization movement through Jamaican eyes. Additional footage includes Michael Manley's last interview, a special bonus music video by Anthony B., Director's Commentary, Theatrical Trailer, Scene Selections; chock ful
DVD Reviews of Life and Debt
DVD Review: a powerful prerequisite for anyone planning a trip to Jamaica (or anyone else, for that matter!)
Summary: 5 Stars
LIFE & DEBT, a brilliant documentary by Stephanie Black, takes a cautionary look at the bleak state of the small island nation of Jamaica. Based on a piece written by Antigua-bred writer, Jamaica Kincaid, this film is beautifully narrated by Belinda Becker. What's more, it is greatly benefited by an evocative musical score that includes such musicians as Ziggy Marley, along with an original score by Mutabaruka. The story juxtaposes news reels, candid interview with farmers, former Jamaican Prime Minister Michael Manley, Deputy Director of the IMF Stanley Fisher, and President of Haiti Jean-Bertrand Aristide (among others), as well as very graphic and honest footage of Jamaican slum life. You can almost smell the rot coming from the garbage dumps children and families must live close to, on a daily basis, because they simply have no other choice.
LIFE & DEBT takes a very sobering look at the effect of twenty-five years of assistance from the International Monetary Fund (IMF), what resulted from this relationship (including the increasing weakening of Jamaican currency, in favor of the American dollar and an increasing struggle for local farmers, as more and more imported produce found its way onto the shelves and into the bellies of Jamaicans and tourists to Jamaica). Throughout the story, we hear "If you come to Jamaica as a tourist, this is what you will see..." LIFE & DEBT makes an especially strong appeal to anyone who arrives in the island nation, and the way in which people tend to appropriate the beauty of a culture (beaches, corn-rowed hairstyles and local food), while turning a blind eye to the stark reality of those who must survive from day to day. The narrator paints the picture of a "typical" tourist. This person is a wealthy American who has the means to come and go from Jamaica, sees the rolling beaches, delicious local cuisine and warm weather. They also see the Jamaican natives, and imagine their life to be quite laid back and worry free. However, the reality is quite the opposite, since most of the poor subsist on less than the equivalent of one American dollar (once numerous taxes take a considerable bite out of their paycheck).
This film is beautiful, on so many levels. Stephanie Black made a bold and beautiful choice in the direction she took with her cinematography. The combination of beautiful and colorful footage of sunsets, and gorgeous flora and fauna, along with black and white montages (to depict the colonialized "past" in contrast with present day Jamaica) was really powerful. What's more, this is the first time I have seen someone respectfully acknowledging the great detrimental effect the WTO (World Trade Organization) and IMF (International Monetary Fund) has had on smaller, greatly disadvantaged nations that have been wrongfully exploited. I commend Stephanie Black for having the guts to bring LIFE & DEBT to the screen. It is as powerful today as it was when it was originally released in 2001.
Description of Life and Debt
This 86 minute feature film directed by Stephanie Black with narration written by Jamaica Kincaid (based on "A Small Place") takes a hard look at IMF and the anti-globalization movement through Jamaican eyes. Additional footage includes Michael Manley's last interview a special bonus music video by Anthony B. Director's Commentary Theatrical Trailer Scene Selections; chock full of great music by Bob Marley Peter Tosh Sizzla Buju Banton Ziggy marley and the Melody makers Anthony B. Yami Bolo more.Format: DVD MOVIE Genre: DOCUMENTARIES Rating: NR Age: 717119830342 UPC: 717119830342 Manufacturer No: NYF83003DVDSet to a beguiling reggae beat, Life and Debt takes as its subject Jamaica's economic decline in the 20th century. The story has reverberations in the plight of other third-world nations blindsided by globalization, like Ghana and Haiti. After England granted Jamaica independence in 1962, the World Bank and International Monetary Fund (IMF) stepped in with a series of loans. These loans came with strings attached--the kind that would eventually plunge the country $7 billion into debt, stranded without the resources to dig themselves out. Although IMF officials get the chance to have their say, it's clear where filmmaker Stephanie Black's sympathies lie--with the country's underemployed farmers and sweatshop workers. Jamaica Kinkaid (A Small Place) penned the narration, while the soundtrack features some of the "imports" with which this island nation remains mostly closely associated: Bob Marley, Peter Tosh, and Mutabaruka, who performs the title track. --Kathleen C. Fennessy
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