Educational Media Reviews Online

Every Three Seconds is a poignant look at the issue of poverty, and the experiences of five people in their endeavors to work to eliminate poverty in each of their surroundings. One person stated that “the most dangerous thing for humans is to turn off the empathy switch.” The focus of the film was to not focus on the big issue, but to look around and see where I can make an immediate difference. For one person, it meant bringing attention to the atrocities against women in the Congo; for another, it meant helping a rural hospital in Malawi develop and communication system for use in the villages the hospital serves. One example highlighted in the film was based on Muhammad Yunus’s concept of “Banker to the Poor.” This system provides a short-term loan to the poorest of the poor by which they can start a job where no jobs exist. This system provides a basis for the poor to make a living: “It’s not a handout or welfare, but it’s a bootstrap approach to helping others get themselves out of poverty.” Interviews, media clips, and clips from sitcoms are used in the film to help the viewer grasp the full sense of the issue, and what can be done to achieve the end of poverty. It is a good resource for sociology and economics to gauge how people in various settings and time periods view the issue of poverty, and ways to overcome the issue.