The half-hour film works, in classic Landau style, by means of wry, engaging images and interviews, to show us the real casualties of first world greed — the hard-working poor of Mexico. Comprising a trio of educational vignettes, the film opens with a withering dismissal of plans to put a full-on golf course and country club in the town of Tepoztlan, whose environmentally-savvy citicizens mocked the planned corporate disaster. “We don’t want this type of progress,†notes the newly-elected Tepoztlan mayor.
Another segment takes aim at Boise Cascade’s take-over of logging in Guerrero, complete with tales of torture endured by Mexican peasants who attempted to stop the clear-cutting of local forests. The filmmaker captures painful confessions of former Levi Strauss factory workers whose El Paso jobs were abruptly terminated in favor of the cheaper labor pool of China.
Landau’s eye sees it all – toxic waste, loss of jobs, eco-disasters, and the irrationality of capitalism. One informant’s brilliant argument for why soccer is superior to golf — “where poor people can beat the rich ones†— is a gem, as is the music by Greg Landau, “Se Vende Todoâ€, and Francisco Herrera.
Required viewing, exposing the ugly underbelly of the new economic order, by longtime policy pundit Landau — an award-winning filmmaker and author. But that’s not all. Landau will also be signing copies of his latest book, A Bush and Botox World (sometimes you can judge a book by its cover/title) at the Feb. 28 event. Bay Tree Building Room D, UCSC, 4-6pm. Be there.
I enjoyed very much working on this project with Saul and Greg Landau. It is a great set of stories, wonderfully presentation of the contradictions of U.S. foreign and economic policies, aimed at protecting only the very rich and an inspiring show of dignity of people organizing so the 99.9% can improve the quality of our lives. Thanks to Saul for making the film and to Greg for the music. We have a very god team work approach to writing and recording and I appreciate it very much