50 minutes Grades 10-12, College, Adult Directed by Octavio Bezerra Produced by BBC DVD Purchase $79, Rent $45 US Release Date: 1994 Copyright Date: 1992 DVD ISBN: 1-59458-658-6 VHS ISBN: 1-56029-536-8 Subjects At-Risk Youth Brazil Children Conflict Resolution Developing World Development Economics Environment Globalization Humanities Latin American Studies Law Poverty Awards and Festivals Best Documentary, International Latin American Film Festival Gold Apple, National Educational Film and Video Festival Golden Panda Award, Wildscreen |
Developing Stories, Series 1: Environment and Development Series Life and Debt Economics and the murder of street children in Rio de Janeiro. Brazil's massive $130 billion debt is the ultimate cause of the shocking assassination of 500 street children a year in Rio de Janeiro.
This hard-hitting docu-drama argues that the children's only crime is that they are poor and have nowhere to go. The film examines the links between Brazil's economic crisis and its tragic social and ecological plight following 500 years of domination and exploitation by Europeans, Americans, and now Japanese. Other titles in the series are: Lucia - The cost of an oil spill to a fishing village. And the Dish Ran Away With the Spoon - Television in the Caribbean dominated by US programs. Seeds of Plenty, Seeds of Sorrow - The darker side of the Green Revolution. Rabi - Modern day fable on family values from Africa. Suspended Dreams - The lasting effects of the civil war in Lebanon. Reviews "If there is a more precise and vivid essay on the root causes of Third World misery...it could not be more potent than Life and Debt." Toronto Star "A powerful polemical film." The (London) Sunday Times |