Always_against_torture As a documentary 'Life and Debt' has many merits one of the most apparent and significant of which is the highly imaginative and effective way that it draws a complex concept into the form of an 80 minute film. A film with so much to say necessarily risks either becoming boring or inaccessible, however Life and Debt suffers from neither of these. Ideas are treated elegantly and efficiently, and invariably illustrated with footage of entirely appropriate and often poignant examples, which in turn allows for excellent pacing. These assets allow what could have been a very dry and abstract film to instead comfortably hold the audience's interest. By way of criticism I would say that on certain occasions subtitles were probably required to render the material fully accessible to an international audience, as the accents/dialect (and cultural constructions of language) are such that the meaning of speakers is periodically unclear. But this and what other minor failings exist pale in comparison to its strengths.

melliferous Life and Debt is an arresting, soul-stirring documentary with fantastic images and a story that will haunt you long after the movie is over. I hope that watching it makes you reconsider what you know about how the world works economically, and the role of the International Monetary Fund and World Bank. This film is an adaption of Jamaica Kincaid's novel "A Small Place," originally based on the story of Antigua (changed to Jamaica for the purposes of this film). If you enjoy the movie, be sure to read the book. In the film, as in the novel, Kincaid's voice-over narration is a powerful reminder of the complicated relationship between tourist and native, powerful and powerless, oppressors and oppressed. I would recommend this documentary to anyone interesting in how developed nations like the United States affect the development of Third World countries like Jamaica, even if you know nothing about it.

George Parker "Life & Debt" takes you past the tourist facade and into the economic woes of Jamaica with a mosaic of snippets of everything from tourists to politicians to planter/growers to international pundits and more in an attempt to show the ill effects of the process of globalization on the island nation. Unfortunately the film does little more than ask questions and illustrate the same problems which beset most of the third world while offering no solutions and pointing the finger of blame in the same direction everyone else points it, at the World Bank and IMF. The film doesn't identify the people being interviewed by name or title; offers no sense of governmental structure; avoids statistics, charts, maps, etc.; posits no plan for the future; and seems to do little more than complain. Failing to make a case for Jamaica, whose woes pale compared to Africa, "Life and Debt" comes off as a sort of plaintive cursory examination of the decline of Jamaica's economy which is, in the global scheme of things, of little consequence or significance. Should work best for those with a particular interest in Jamaica. (C+)

griffjon As a development worker in Jamaica, I can say that there is a lot of painful accuracy in the movie. Yes, tourists do act that badly, almost unanimously if you only count the ones who spend their time here locked away in a guarded resort. And now over half of ever tax dollar goes to paying foreign debt...