Showing @ Filmhouse, Edinburgh, Tue 2 Oct only
Victoria Bruce, Karin Hayes / USA / 2012 / 81 min
The danger of any global crisis is that the more it’s discussed, the more stale it becomes. The only way to avoid this is to keep refreshing the debate, particularly in film which can frequently run the risk of covering old ground. While Victoria Bruce and Karin Hayes recall the current state of American finance in their introductory, The Corporation-style documentary, it doesn’t offer many new perspectives.
Its primary focus is to explain how corporations enjoy exemption from US tax laws if they offshore their assets to havens like Bermuda and the Bahamas. Any loss suffered on the mainland is instantly reversed by transferring abroad. Bruce and Hayes provide some staggering statistics, including how many billions of dollars are hijacked by US firms seeking to maximise their profits. In this sense, the documentary is quite enlightening, revealing the meagreness of the tax code and the size of its loopholes. But films such as Inside Job and I.O.U.S.A. detail the financial crisis with greater rigour and intelligence, and expose the real power issues surrounding fiscal responsibility. We’re Not Broke is so far from getting to the root of tax crime; it should either focus more on potential solutions or give greater profile to organisations such as US Uncut, which annoyingly only features two or three times in the film.
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