Touches You

To me, this movie is perfection.

The acting is good, and the firecracker script has some excellent ideas.

I didn’t really have many expectations going into the movie (good or bad), but I actually really enjoyed it. I really liked the characters and the banter between them.

While this movie is critical of the existing system, I think it's not as strong as it believes on explaining exactly how its alternative would work. OK, you could argue that it is a pro-business, pro-trade, pro-let people do it themselves model. That might simplifying the filmmakers angle, but again, other than a few sample businesses and entrepreneurs, it's not really described. I'm not sure if I'm supposed to believe that we just cut off all aid and miraculously poor people will make themselves rich. So, I do give it credit for questioning the existing system. I suppose if it gets the viewer thinking more critically about how the system works and their own role in it, then I guess it's done its job, but expect to clearly lay out an alternative. Also, as someone else pointed out to me, Jeffrey Sachs & others have written, in a sense, on where the current system works well and under what circumstances. So, before we totally throw out the current system to adopt ???, it seems like more critical thinking and questioning is in order.

The thrust behind this film might seem counter-intuitive. The film contends that all the well-intentioned aid coming from the First World to the Third World is actually NOT helping all that much. It instead has a tendency to keep folks poor and dependent on aid and may actually undermine domestic industries. While this sounds crazy, the film does a good job of explaining...using the analogy of giving a man a fish OR just giving him a fishing rod and letting him then help himself. So, by giving money to countless agencies and allowing dictators to control the donations (only 16 of 54 African nations have democratic elections), it keeps the dictators in power and inhibits local farmers and businesses. Instead of me trying to convince you by saying more...just watch the film for yourself. Overall, the film is well made and offers many interviews with folks who work in various aid agencies, live and work in the developing world. It also has nice graphics and a nice professional look. And, I have a hard time understanding why governments and aid groups keep doing the same old thing again and again...somehow hoping THIS time it will all somehow work!