31ª Mostra Internacional de Cinema

The privatization and its effects on society are illustrated by the fates of several individuals in different parts of the world. Shot on four continents, depicts the ludicrous effects of privatization of water (Bolivia), electricity (South Africa), health care (Philippines), and maybe most astonishingly, British Rail (UK). Privatization - for Minda in Manila, Bongani in Soweto and Simon in Brighton, this is a more than abstract notion. It is the life-threatening reality they deal with every day. This episodic documentary examines the consequences of privatization – often forced by institutions such as the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund – on real individuals. Minda, for instance, is struggling to find money for the dialysis her son needs twice a week because Philippine health care has been largely privatized and the poor don’t have access to it anymore. Bongani and his team of electro-guerillas roam their South African township and illegally restore electricity to homes of people too poor to pay their bills to the to be privatized supplier. And Simon humorously relates his adventures as a train driver, first for British Rail, and then for countless other firms that come and go with an intense regularity. The victory of the citizens of Cochabamba, Bolivia, against a mighty US corporation that tried to control the municipal water supply adds a note of hope to the film. The interwoven storylines are contrasted with interviews with those responsible for the privatizations and with comments by Nobel Prize winner Joseph Stiglitz, who left the ranks of the doers to fight for the losers.

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