The presentation is pretty good despite some natural clunkiness expected when German filmmakers decide to make a movie in English.
Don't believe the other reviews if they say "been there done that" or "nothing new here" - In fact, as stated above, it does present its arguments in a novel way and is thorough in breaking things down.
The fact of the matter is that current day (post?) capitalism relies almost exclusively on growth and profit for only growth and profit's sake. The other fact is that the Earth is a finite environment and will not be capable of providing infinite resources or letting us do so in a manner that doesn't further damage it, which is one way that capitalism externalizes losses onto the public commons. The growth has to stop sometime or something else will give.
Sadly, I think the natural progression of things as laid out by this film has us living in one of the many dystopian sci-fi scenarios involving the billionaire class escaping to off-world satellite colonies or Mars while the rest of us are turned into batteries like in The Matrix. OK, that last part is a bit hyperbolic, but the rest of us already are and will continue to suffer the consequences of unfettered growth, the financialization of everything and the resulting damage to our environment leading to danger to all of our lives.
Plot summary
Melting glaciers, gullied seas, the financial markets are about to collapse. Spectacular images of how growth continues to be blinding. Outside you can hardly see anything because of the smog and the smoke screen.
Uploaded by: FREEMAN
Director
Tech specs
720p.WEB 1080p.WEBMovie Reviews
Different take on the limits and dangers of finance capitalism
Takes easy pot shots with nothing new
Disappointed. Its basically saying capitalism bad, Karl marx good.
Was hoping to discover something new, and exploring the good as well as the bad about capitalism and what it could teach us about how we might move forward
but it's just setup as easy pot shots at capitalists without truly giving due credit to the successes. And at the same time it's peppered with quotes from Karl marx suggesting that he was right all along. Really? So by doing this it seems to suggest the answer to our current mess is Karl marxs communism?
Sorry but Missed opportunity and nothing new.
The Growth Illusion
Excellent documentary I found browsing through Amazon Prime (ironically enough) about how the belief in the possibility of endless economic growth is destroying the planet featuring interviews with one German, Chinese and Brazilian businessman who is creepier than the last one. It's filled with a thoroughly Germanic but extremely well-warranted pessimism. It's interesting to learn that the notion of economic growth which is central to every government's policy is such a recent concept but terrifying to realise the damage it has done to the Earth in such a small time frame.