Educational Media Reviews Online

This overambitious film traces the development of capitalism from prehistoric times, to the development of agriculture, feudalism, private property, industrialization, and finally to a free market economy. A good deal of the work’s informational offerings are quite sound, as in the cases of the explorations of factors contributing to the rising of serfdom and slave labor, and the travels and endeavors of early merchants and bankers. The enterprise of covering the coinciding developments of capitalism and democracy is a grand one, to be sure, but this documentary’s duration is too brief to accomplish this lofty goal. While it is wanting in detail in many areas, it strangely offers irrelevant minutia, such as the location of the first iron bridge in Great Britain. Furthermore, the film makers seem to have several agendas as it defends globalization with un-cited claims of progress, and proffers a “zero-sum” economy without a thesis. The audio production is substandard, as one can hear the narrator’s breathing, hard “P” sounds, and page turning.

Despite the well crafted accompanying “Mastery Quiz” and “Guided Questions,” and despite the brilliant use of historical photographs, political cartoons, paintings, and other images, this work’s content falls short as poorly executed and inconsistent in its delivery.