Archive for May, 2011

Documentary Review: War By Other Means

May 25, 2011 at 8:26 am · Filed under Film & DVD Reviews ·Tagged , , , , , ,

War By Other Means

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War By Other Means is a 1992 documentary film by John Pilger and David Munro. In this documentary Jon Pilger points out that in the year of Live Aid in 1985 Africa gave twice as much to us as we gave to them. On Red Nose Day the 12m raised by the public came back in interest payments on loans. Developing countries pay more interest on loans then they ever receive in international aid.

Pilger sees the debt system as a form of war:

“In many ways it’s like a colonial war. The difference is that these days people and their resources are controlled not by Viceroys and occupying armies but by other, more sophisticated means of which the principal weapon is debt.”

Pilger traces the international debt system back to Bretton Woods in 1944 where the IMF and World Bank were formed.

The documentary looks at the effects of this system on the Philipines. 44 per cent of the Philipines national budget goes to paying interest on foreign debt. The effects are shown with graphic scenes of poverty. People are filmed picking through rubbish on ‘Smokey Mountain’ to find a few things to sell and buy food. Debt is rightly described as a contemporary form of slavery.

The effect of Structural Adjustment Plans is to make sure that debt repayment takes priority over everything else. No environmental or humanitarian concern is given greater weight than that goal.

Despite optimistic comments in this documentary from a World Bank interviewee little has changed. The Phillipines economy is still geared toward paying back interest payment on debt. Although it once boasted one of the region’s best-performing economies, the Philippines is saddled with a large national debt and tens of millions of people live in poverty. In 2004, public debt as a percentage of GDP was estimated to be 74.2%; in 2008, 56.9%.Gross external debt has risen to $66.27 billion and the daily income for 45% of the population of the Philippines remains less than $2.

Pilger makes a passionate case for debt cancellation. He argues that the World Bank and IMF should be abolished and replaced with a real development agency based on the national interest of the countries concerned. Watch and learn how developing nations are enslaved by debt and how we could help them.

Reviewed by Pat Harrington

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Documentary review: Supermarket Secrets 1

May 24, 2011 at 3:34 pm · Filed under Film & DVD Reviews ·Tagged , , , , ,

Supermarket Secrets 1
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The stranglehold of Supermarkets is changing the way we eat as well as the way we shop. This documentary ‘Dispatches. Supermarket  Secrets 1′ looks at the price we pay for cheap and convenient food.

Jane Moore compares now starts by looking back at the 1950s when Chicken was an extra special treat. Even in a more recent past we are eating four times as many chickens as thirty years ago. In 1970, 200 million a year but by 2004, 850 million a year.

Chickens are big business and are produced using factory farms. The talk is of ‘growing’ chickens. Chicken rearing is an industrial process. Ross 308 is  the favourite type as it  fattens quickly. It can grow in 42 days reaching maturity in half time of 50s chickens.

The programme shows that animal suffering is one price that to pay. The horrific undercover footage from a farm in Norfolk is distressing.  This factory farm supplies Grampian Country Food group which in turn supplies the big supermarkets.

Donald Broom, Professor of Animal Welfare Cambridge University, explains part of the  problem is  with the  legs of the chickens as weight is added too quickly and they are unable to support it.  This leads to trampling and falling into contact with their own urine.  Prof. Broom shows that hockburns caused by the ammonia in the urine are visible on many chickens bought from supermarkets. In an earlier scientific survey Prof. Broom found 82 per cent of chickens bought from the major supermarkets had  hockburn –  the tell-tale brown round mark found on the scaly part of the  leg.

Supermarket Secrets 1 also questions the quality of the meat produced. Traditional butcher John Chadwick looks at some of the meat bought from supermarkets. He identifies ASDA passing off cutlets as loin chops (loin chops should have a  t-bone) and the fact that  Tesco add preservatives to pork chops and fat from another animal to their topside rump. A jury of 12 people blind taste meat from a traditional butcher and from the more expensive supermarket ranges.  The results are conclusive. In every test the meat from the traditional butcher is rated more highly.

Top Chef Raymond Blanc takes us through an ‘autopsy’ of a supermarket chicken showing its abnormal growth and comparing it to a free-range chicken.

This documentary will make you think about the food supply chain and whether you are getting such a good bargain at your local supermarket. It shows that for a lower price you must accept animal suffering and poorer quality. Are you prepared to pay this price?

Reviewed by Patrick Harrington

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Battle of the Bone (2008)

May 15, 2011 at 8:54 pm · Filed under Film & DVD Reviews ·Tagged , , , , , , , , , ,

Battle_of_the_Bone_DVD_coverWritten, directed and produced by George Clarke

Certificate:18. Run time: 90 minutes.

Billed as Northern Ireland’s first kung fu/zombie film, George Clarke has achieved nothing short of a miracle with this fast-paced tale of three friends battling against sectarian thugs and drug-crazed zombies. Owing much to the work of George A Romero and Japanese gore-fest movies, Battle of the Bone was shot on a micro-budget of just £10,000. Despite this, Clarke managed to get a cameo role from popular UTV newsreader Pamela Ballentine playing herself. Most of the shooting of this film was done on location, so virtually no money was spent on expensive sets. Action takes place in the open air, a pedestrian subway, a grain silo and a paper warehouse in the docklands, a city centre multi-storey car park and shopping mall, and culminates on the steps of an inner city church.

The story takes place in Belfast on the Twelfth of July as three friends; David, Scott and Jill, try to get back home to East Belfast in the aftermath of a huge inter-communal riot. All the river bridges are blocked by burning cars except for a pedestrian bridge guarded by a bunch of thugs. David falls foul of these guys and finds himself and his two friends running and fighting for his life though the city docklands.

In the meantime, an accidental spillage of a new drug has turned the staff and inmates of the local mental hospital into crazed zombies. These create havoc as they attack loyalist bandsmen in their practice hall, Twelfth revellers waiting at ‘the field’ to see the bands and a courting couple in the Botanic Gardens.

The three friends think they’re safe having eluded the thugs from ‘the other side’ only to run into a greater danger; the zombie hordes pouring into the city centre.

Battle of the Bone is fast-moving with a pulsating soundtrack that really moves the action along. There’s genuine tension at times, but it’s also a lot of fun with plenty of over-the-top fake blood and gore. It’s obvious that the young inexperienced cast had a ball making this frenetic film.

The last couple of minutes are a wee bit lame but not enough to spoil the fun. The best scene is where two doctors in the ‘nuthouse’ lark about singing and playing the piano totally unaware of the frenzied zombies menacing them. It’s great stuff.

George Clarke has come up with what ought to be a genre classic. If he can do such a fine job with this kind of a budget, what will he be able to do in future efforts with a bigger budget? Things look promising for him and his Yellow Fever Productions.

The DVD bundles an interesting documentary showing how the film was made, a number of deleted scenes and a theatrical trailer with the main feature.

Reviewed by David Kerr

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