Based on a best-seller by Canadian author Margaret Atwood called Payback: Debt & the Shadow Side of Wealth this NFB documentary explores the issue of debt (financial, moral and otherwise), and how it impacts on the personal and economic well-being of not just individuals in our world, but whole countries.
Until the Middle Ages, the Biblical ban on usury (ie. the charging of interest on a debt), put a pretty big crimp on the idea of people loaning money for profit. That ended with the passage of an act by King Henry VIII in 1545 that permitted creditors to charge interest on a loan. Now, the idea of operating a modern economy without debt seems ludicrous. But that doesn’t mean there still aren’t harmful consequences.
Payback screens tonight and Saturday at the RPL Theatre at 9 p.m., and Friday and Sunday at 7 p.m. Here’s the trailer.
