THOUGHTS ON ALLEVIATING POVERTY

Film | February 24, 2009 - 10:09pm

Filmmaker Exposes Poverty, but Gives Vague Solutions
by Victoria Fox
“We are going toward a major explosion,” Philippe Diaz warns, “unless we change something drastically.”

In a phone interview about his film The End of Poverty?, currently playing at the Best of the African Diaspora Film Festival, writer-director Diaz was adamant that unchecked poverty plagues not only the developing world, but will also eventually crush the economies of developed nations. Diaz’s film takes a sweeping historical perspective to substantiate this claim, explaining poverty’s roots, current implications, and future effects.

To achieve its massive scope, the film relies principally on the testimonies of economists, scholars, and politicians, as well impoverished individuals in Africa and Latin America. Diaz’s film was a logical addition to the festival, which strives to highlight films that are not only conscious of African diaspora themes, but also risk being overlooked in conventional film circles.

Though relevant to the current economic landscape, Diaz encountered difficulty bringing his film to screen. “They tried for a long time to do a movie on the true historical and political causes [of poverty], but of course in Hollywood, no one is interested in doing that,” Diaz said. It was only through his own production company, Cinema Libre, that Diaz finally brought his film to fruition.

To explain poverty today, Diaz turns to the history of colonial exploitation and violence against resource-rich regions, beginning in 1492. “I was trying to explain that poverty is not something which happened recently,” he said.

Despite the end of mass colonialism, Diaz argues that nothing substantial has been done to reverse the patterns of exploitation that began centuries ago.
“The more we consume the more we have to plunge people into poverty to [maintain] balance,” Diaz remarked. He claims little has changed in 500 years, as developed nations are still dependent on cheap natural resources to dominate economically. Violent conquest has simply given way to a subtler neo-imperialism. While developing nations have independent governments, they are still subjugated by unfair treaties and insurmountable debt.

Though the film is detailed in its assessment of the historical causes and effects of poverty, it becomes disturbingly abstract when it begins to search for a solution. “We have to change the system,” Diaz stated. “These natural resources come from nature and therefore should be benefiting everybody, not just a few people or corporations.”

General as the solution “change the system” may seem, Diaz argues that it is necessary for developed nations to find tangible ways to overhaul their economic practices. Since resources are currently being consumed faster than the earth can replenish them, Diaz urges developed nations to act now, if not to aid the impoverished out of philanthropy, then to simply avoid their own economic collapse due over-consumption.

“You can’t dig a hole for generations and hope that one day you won’t fall in it,” he cautioned. “You can find tricks and play games to make it sound like it still works, but one moment it will not work anymore.”

The End of Poverty? is playing at 6:20 p.m. on Wednesday at the Brooklyn Academy of Music’s Rose Cinemas (30 Lafayette Street at Duane Street).