Every poor person in the US is poor for a reason. Ever wonder why? This movie points to one reason, one solution, and dozens of hard working, endearing people you will fall in love with.
The movie is 90% documentary filmed mostly in New York, 10% panel discussion filmed in a studio.
I'm going to talk about the documentary, which is kick-ass, but briefly I will address the panel discussion: It's half celebrities, and half people in micro-finance on that panel. You are going to have to forgive the celebrities in the panel discussion for not knowing anything about micro-finance, and for acting like celebrities. Maybe you can come up with a drinking game for that part of the film -perhaps take a drink when any celebrity speaks - you will need it. The folks in micro-finance on that panel have something intelligent to say, so it's still worth listening to if you can hang in there.
To Catch A Dollar follows the growth of one micro-finance institution in the US. Specifically, it follows Nobel prize winner Muhammed Yunnus and his efforts to bring micro-finance to the US through the Grameen Foundation. It introduces to viewers the idea of a "social business" - a business whose success is measured only by how well it meets a social goal, not by profit.
The main thread is a fish out-of-water story for the small, struggling, endearing Grameen staff in New York. They face a huge learning curve in adapting a proved system to a very different group of lenders and lender behavior patterns than they have ever dealt with before.
For the Grameen US borrowers, it's a fight. With little education, surrounded by loan sharks, they fight every day to stay disciplined; to stay on the path to a better future.
Will they succeed?
There are brief interludes of Dr. Muhammed Yunnus' struggles thrown into the mix. I ding the film for not exploring the meaning of these interludes a little further. The viewer is given no insight into the impact of major events. Why is it a huge problem if loan sharks, credit card vendors, and now JP Morgan are loaning to the poor in order to maximize their own profit? Why should we not try to maximize profit when dealing with the poorest of the poor? There are obvious, shallow answers, but there are also deeper, more meaningful discussions and further questions about our entire financial system that are left untouched.
Overall, however, it's a fantastic and fun introduction to the world of micro-finance.
The movie is 90% documentary filmed mostly in New York, 10% panel discussion filmed in a studio.
I'm going to talk about the documentary, which is kick-ass, but briefly I will address the panel discussion: It's half celebrities, and half people in micro-finance on that panel. You are going to have to forgive the celebrities in the panel discussion for not knowing anything about micro-finance, and for acting like celebrities. Maybe you can come up with a drinking game for that part of the film -perhaps take a drink when any celebrity speaks - you will need it. The folks in micro-finance on that panel have something intelligent to say, so it's still worth listening to if you can hang in there.
To Catch A Dollar follows the growth of one micro-finance institution in the US. Specifically, it follows Nobel prize winner Muhammed Yunnus and his efforts to bring micro-finance to the US through the Grameen Foundation. It introduces to viewers the idea of a "social business" - a business whose success is measured only by how well it meets a social goal, not by profit.
The main thread is a fish out-of-water story for the small, struggling, endearing Grameen staff in New York. They face a huge learning curve in adapting a proved system to a very different group of lenders and lender behavior patterns than they have ever dealt with before.
For the Grameen US borrowers, it's a fight. With little education, surrounded by loan sharks, they fight every day to stay disciplined; to stay on the path to a better future.
Will they succeed?
There are brief interludes of Dr. Muhammed Yunnus' struggles thrown into the mix. I ding the film for not exploring the meaning of these interludes a little further. The viewer is given no insight into the impact of major events. Why is it a huge problem if loan sharks, credit card vendors, and now JP Morgan are loaning to the poor in order to maximize their own profit? Why should we not try to maximize profit when dealing with the poorest of the poor? There are obvious, shallow answers, but there are also deeper, more meaningful discussions and further questions about our entire financial system that are left untouched.
Overall, however, it's a fantastic and fun introduction to the world of micro-finance.
