Review On The Historical Documentary "Poverty Inc."

The historical documentary, “Poverty Inc.”, which was released back in 2014 has dramatically changed my overall perspective of the intricacies of poverty and development and how they relate to each other. My outlook and understanding of Africa, the country of focus of the film, for one is now directed at seeing their citizens’ deeply ingrained and dependence to the concept of “giving” and has in fact stopped working for themselves. The Africans are also not entirely to blame as it also created a concept that those who can help, must support the poor and that having empathy for the underprivileged is a good way of showing your concern for others and having this sense of sympathy creates the thought of “support”.

The film demonstrates the present state of economic globalization as it is evidently still taking place as of today. The concept created a growing and consistent perception that Africa is seen and should always be treated as a helpless nation that cannot stand on its own. However, the historical documentary also attempted to draw attention to the fact that the Africans are not as helpless as people would like to think but can and will do everything to stand on their own and prove their worth to other nations. The positive aspect of the societal idea that merged from the concept of foreign aid, had given opportunities to the country — seeing as it is, various names of companies such as “Toms” gave out “growing shoes” to help as well. This system of dependence does not support the Third World to rise above the circumstances. However, the focus of the documentary is to enlighten the “right” kind of aid. Debruge, P. (2015, November 28). The role of neoliberalism in the poverty industry affects the balance of the economy and overall general growth of the country wherein the government should adjust or recalibrate its law and acquire the knowledge and right know how to balance the consequences and output of the laws that affect not only the country, but also its citizens. Thus, explains the idea of foreign aid— if a country went through natural calamities, that same government is obliged to accept support from other countries, even if that country is capable enough to rise above its rubbles. Different nations have earmarked a portion of its resources to help and thus should be accepted under the concept of giving support, hence, providing a short term solution of providing a temporary recovery for their economy.

However, as much as Africa wants to rely on their own—their resources are not sufficient enough to support itself. Whether it would be creating innovative solutions to problems, they would still have to reach out to other nations to find funds and loans to be able to support their economic advances. In short, the role of the neoliberalism in the expansion and intensification of the poverty industry, complicates the circumstance of the country. On the other hand, the role of aid in poverty and development is that—it can be exemplified in various means; that aid saves people’s lives, allows children to get good nutrition and education, helps big and small businesses prosper and all the security benefits in which it creates conditions for countries to be more peaceful and stable. Loevinsohn, E. (2011, February 16) Importance of Aid. However, it will depend upon their justification.