| Life And Debt |
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| CATEGORIES ABOUT LIFE AND DEBT | |
| 2001 films | |
| american films | |
| documentary films | |
| english-language films | |
| films based on fiction books | |
| international monetary fund | |
| world bank | |
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Kathleen C. Fennessy's review of the documentary states "Set 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 were conditional on Jamaica enacting positive economic reforms - trade liberalization to give consumers access to cheaper products, privatization to ease the burden of government, and deregulation to give Jamaican entrepreneurs more economic freedom. However, the Jamaican government was unsuccessful with these reforms and left the country with an unreformed economy and $7 billion dollars in debt. The film tries to blame the IMF and the West for causing this situation. However, the IMF offered its services to ''help'' the country. The blame for Jamaica's economic woes rests with the country's government who accepted the loans but did not enact the proper reforms. Official site |
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