Writer-director Timo Harakka, a journalist for Finland's public broadcasting system, invested 10,000 Euros in a Far East Fund managed by the sensible if slightly perplexed Rene Petersen, and then spent the next year following his investment in Korea, China, and the United Kingdom, as well as places where he hoped his money could help spur national economies, such as India and Mozambique. (At the time of this film's production in 2002, Petersen tells Harakka that India is about a decade away from the roaring capitalism of modern China). The low-key Harakka discovers that he's a shareholder in Samsung, which he considers more like a government than a company, with its power to prevent a person from working again for speaking ill of the business' policies (nevertheless, he does find a labor dispute taking place concerning employees of one of Samsung's divisions who were laid off to pay for bad management in another division). In China, Harakka receives a grand tour of a brand-name clothing sweatshop (and also takes a gander at the future site of a huge mall called Underwear City), learning that in China, workers can labor for 16 hours a day, seven days a week. Harakka meets a number of young adults who have lost limbs in factory jobs, but received no compensation from their employers or the government. Over in England, Harakka greets factory workers who are now working for a Chinese company—one of the effects of internationally-owned companies crossing borders—all part and parcel of the new global reality. An eye-opening look at the linked economic world in which we live, Follow the Money is highly recommended. Aud: C, P. (T. Keogh)
Follow the Money
(2003) 75 min. DVD or VHS: $350. Filmakers Library. PPR. Volume 23, Issue 4
Follow the Money
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