4 Star Documentary

Money, Power and Avarice.

in UK cinemas from 22 April and nationwide 31 May

What happens when the rich get richer?

35 years ago an economic experiment in the US and the UK was supposed to provide a better life for all.

Today in both countries inequality is at its highest level since 1928.

This is the opening statement of Katharine Round‘s startling documentary. A piece of thirty five year old social history that is so having an political and economical relevance now as the Panama papers are delved into by auditors, accountants and lawyers as the monetary divide grows ever bigger as the fat-cats get all the creams and the rest of the populace get a minor portion of what is cut up between the rest of the social and economic sharks.

The experiment takes a look at then and now with a series of people from different social and economic backgrounds from both sides of the pond. These are Alden and Sima Cass, he is a wall street climber and has aspirations of being a economic 1 per-centrer. He wants all the trappings of this social class, a gated housing complex with BMW and Mercedes golf-carts and the best schools in the US for his young children and the safety at night for his wife.

Leah Taylor is a woman that works in a famous fried chicken outlet and has a colourful past. She wants her family to have enough to enjoy the staples of what the American dream should be, her house her job for a fair days pay and with to much stress of doing the above.

Rochelle Monte a housewife, and a homecare worker that is in the same boat as her American counter part Leah is in socially, wanting to see her children in a school they can look up to whilst doing a Zero hour contract and can only give a half hour to each of her wards.

Janet Sparks in Baker Louisiana used to own her own business but after 5 years it all went south and she ended up working for a supermarket chain that appreciated the worker until the economic climate changed, jobs were cut but the work load stayed the same.

Jennifer Cooper and American in Sacramento California thinks she should be living the dream in a gated community after winning big on the lottery, but all is not well as they are the wrong social class for their position in the (anti)social society. (Think the 1989 film Society).

Darren McGarvey has it all against him growing up in Pollok Glasgow as there hasn’t been any job prospects in the area for many years and bordem and youth lead to a downward spiral for his life.

Finally we come to Keith Thomas a man from a different background as he has been incarcerated for the last seventeen years due to the ‘Three Strikes and Out’ policy for 1gram of dope but now his life is bitter because of his treatment within the walls of his small prison cell.

This documentary is interspersed with the edicts of presidents and prime ministers as they tried to say that they were doing the best for the masses as they allowed the higher echelons of industry and those in charge of banks and the stock-market to become the mega rich of their countries. With contributions from high profile commentators including former economic adviser to Margaret Thatcher, Sir Alan Budd, historian Sir Max Hastings, economist Ha-Joon Chang, Noam Chomsky and epidemiologist Sir Michael Marmot. The Divide serves as both a call to arms, and a powerful warning.