What makes the documentary The End of Poverty? a success is its second section, which covers neoliberalism and its devastating impact on underdeveloped countries. What almost makes the documentary a failure is the first section, which attempts to give a historical explanation for the roots of poverty. For reasons that are not explained clearly, the director, Philippe Diaz, marks 1492 as the year that the gates of hell were opened. From this moment on, the world was split into two parts, the North and the South. The North, Europe and later the United States, was nothing but a vampire feeding on the body of the South. My problem with this section, the first section, which runs for about 60 minutes, is it marks all North/South encounters as a fall from paradise (natural economies) for the societies in the South. But pre-European societies in Africa and South America were by no means perfect. They, too, were plagued with violence, greed, and all sorts of exploitive practices. The problem is not Europe alone; the problem is the whole human race. Why are we so cruel to each other?

The second section of the documentary is excellent. It explores the age of the American empire (1945 to 2008) and its main instrument of power and control—neoliberalism, an economic program that forced governments in the South to diminish their role in the market and to privatize all services and goods (even water!). This economic program benefited the North and decimated the South. The economists and activists interviewed in the documentary are all on one side: anti-North. This is a good thing. Why? Because those who support the policies of the North have no ground to stand on. Neoliberalism is a bankrupt concept, and the recent bailout of the American banks makes this bankruptcy perfectly clear.