In The End of Poverty?, director Phillipe Diaz delivers one of the most disheartening documentary films I have ever seen.  Of course, what did I expect when the subtitle reads, “Think Again”?

From Bolivia to Kenya to Brazil, and a slew of slums in between, this film captures the worst of the worst – most people surviving on less than a dollar a day, and many on less than 50 cents.  These dismal images are complimented by accomplished authors, professors, and leaders from around the globe, speaking from their studies with plentiful bookshelves behind about our world’s inefficient economic system.  News of this poorly executed, monopolized structure came as no shock to me, but the information and statistics presented were no less appalling.

To name a few: Cutting global poverty in half would cost $20 billion, which is less than 4% of the US Military budget – a Military often sent to ensure that foreign leaders do as they are told, therefore guaranteeing that the poor stay poor and the powerful stay in power.   This uneven distribution – where less than 25% of the world population uses more than 80% of our global resources while creating 70% of the world’s pollution – leaves millions of humans undernourished and many dead every day.  At one point, an author called the ordeal “structural violence”, also claiming that if everyone lived like Americans, we would need six planets to sustain ourselves.

One of the most disturbing aspects of the film, I found, was the display of America’s power through the impoverished citizens of third world countries – where one if not more of the family members in each case could speak fairly fluent English, even using words like “eradicate” and “annihilate” that many Americans would not think to use in such casual conversation.  With thick accents, they told their tale from shacks and dirt homes crowded with an average of eight or more people.

Which leads me to one of the film’s negatives – a lack of addressing the issue of enormous families and limited access to or education about contraception.  I found myself too often pondering why a woman who could not acquire enough food to feed herself had just given birth to her sixth child (and it was not to create a family of workers, for these people had lost their livelihood and essentially resorted to begging).

While no real positive conclusion was ever reached about how to solve current economic problems, the only one that seemed to shine through was a sort of call to action for the poor, asking them to “insist on justice not charity” in the form of forgiving debts, restoring land to its original owners, and ending privitization of resources.

Overall, the film was only mildly interesting, lacking any real story line or plot and showing a lot of the same scenes for lengthy periods of time – fading in and out until I became dizzy – and ending on a somber note.  While it tackles a wildly important issue, and dishes out a plethora of facts, it seems a better fit for a classroom setting of sorts.  Nevertheless, if you’re yearning for a depressing two hours of social, political, and economical enlightenment, The End of Poverty? is an instant play on Netflix worth exploring.