Educational Media Reviews Online

This unorthodox film begins with a spoof of Milton Friedman, Nobel Prize winning Chicago economist, satirically pointing to his responsibility for economic and environmental exploitations in the name of free market capitalism. The film makes use of very crude character animations of the founders of Bank of America, Goldman Sachs, and Morgan Stanley, and how these businessmen’s historical investments in fossil fuels have hurt developing economies economically and environmentally. This documentary contrarily refers to itself as an “investment seminar,” exhibiting how Western economic interests continue to cripple developing economies.

Through the film, the audience is presented with rough footage of Texaco’s damage to the Ecuadorian environment, African civil wars ascribed to oil exploration and sales, inhuman conditions in uranium strikes in Africa, and many more instances of oppression.

While this film offers compelling footage and other materials, it suffers dearly from woeful production and editing. The makeshift animations used through the film diminish the impact and overall perception of the film. The film suffers from a general sense of disorganization. That aside, the content presented is unique and forceful. The filmmakers clearly researched this satiric and emphatic work to a great degree. It is brief and earnest, but lacks a polished presentation.