User:Kweissbohn/sandbox

Reviews

Roger Ebert, a film critic for the Chicago Sun Times, gave the movie a three out of four-star rating and described it as “a harsh indictment, but persuasive”.

Received an overall score of 90% on both the Tomatometer and Audience Score from the Rotten Tomatoes website.

On June 15, 2001, Stephen Holden of the New York Times, wrote a review titled “FILM REVIEW; One Love, One Heart, Or a Sweatshop Economy?”, in which he describes the film as a powerful documentary. He says that “The movie offers the clearest analysis of globalization and its negative effects that I've ever seen on a movie or television screen”.

On February 26, 2003, Jamie Russell from BBC gave it a four out of five-star rating and described the movie as brilliant. She explains that Stephanie Black’s hits toward the tourism industry and lack of options to change the situation leaves audiences with nothing more than simply being angry about everything.

On March 25, 2003, Andrew Pulver of “The Guardian” gave it four out of five stars. He stressed the importance of the movie and explained that anyone with any interest in globalization should watch it. He describes it as “a detailed, poignant examination of Jamaica's parlous economic plight”.

David Nusair from “Reel Film Reviews” had a bit of a different opinion on the movie. On August 1, 2003 he gave the movie a one out of four-star rating, commenting, “Try to imagine the most boring lecture you've ever sat through, and you might have a vague conception of what it's like watching Life and Debt”. He explains that the move is one-sided, and that Stephanie Black’s narrow-minded perspective gives a bias approach in the film. He points out her inability to stay focused throughout the film and the impact of her condescending tone regarding the tourists coming to Jamaica.

IMDB users have given the film an overall weighted average rating of 7.5/10 using words such as informative, important, excellent, and very powerful to describe it.