Drawing upon the thinking and analyses of renowned intellectuals, this documentary sketches a portrait of neo-liberal ideology and examines the various mechanisms used to impose its dictates throughout the world.
Neo-liberalism’s one-size-fits-all dogmas are well known: deregulation, reducing the role of the State, privatization, limiting inflation rather than unemployment, etc. In other words, depoliticizing the economy and putting it into the hands of the financial class. And these dogmas are gradually settling into our consciousness because they’re being broadcast across a vast and pervasive network of propaganda.
In fact, beginning with the founding in 1947 of the Mont Pèlerin Society, neo-liberal think tanks financed by multinational companies and big money have propagated neo-liberal ideas in universities, in the media, and in governments.
This ideology, convinced of its historical and scientific validity – as proven, in particular, by the fall of the Soviet Union – has intoxicated all governments, left and right alike. In fact, since the end of the Cold War, the rate of neo-liberal reforms has increased dramatically. Often imposed with force, either through the structural adjustment plans of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank, under the pressure of financial markets and multinationals, or even by outright war, the neo-liberal doctrine has now reached every corner of the planet.
But behind the ideological smokescreen, behind the neat concepts of natural order and the harmony of interests in a free market, beyond the panacea of the “invisible hand,” what is really going on?
Features Bernard Maris, Noam Chomsky, Ignacio Ramonet
Awards
Winner: Robert and Frances Flaherty Prize – Yamagata International Documentary Film Festival which wrote “The Grand Prize goes to a brave film which is a collection of ideas put together through intelligent editing. There are no objects or events, only people who are thinking. This is a celebration of thinking at this time when ideologies are ending and new multi-dimensional expectations are here.”
Winner: Festival international du cinema francophone en Acadie, Best Documentary
Winner: Amnesty International Award
Winner: Grand Prix Award – Nyon Visions du Réel
160 minutes on 1 disc / Directed by Richard Brouillette / English and French w/English Sub-titles / 2008
HOW TO ORDER:
Public Performance and Digital Site Licenses are available through Soundview Media Partners. To inquire or to place an order, write to info@soundviewmediapartners.com or simply choose from the options below:
Drawing upon the thinking and analyses of renowned intellectuals, this documentary sketches a portrait of neo-liberal ideology and examines the various mechanisms used to impose its dictates throughout the world.