Why poverty ?

How is it possible that while as a society we're all getting richer and richer, there are still people who have to live in extreme poverty - especially when history teaches us that we've been trying to eradicate poverty for the last 2,500 years? In this documentary packed with animation, various historians and economists discuss key moments in our history that explain something fundamental about poverty and wealth. We are transported from prehistory (when nobody was actually "poor") by way of medieval Italy to 18th-century China, the Industrial Revolution and the colonization of parts of Africa and South America. The questions discussed in the film are accompanied by humorous and colorful animations - some involving dream characters who try to survive in different eras, and others featuring manipulated ancient illustrations. These sequences are intercut with clear, factual explanations by the experts, making us think about what we have - and haven't - accomplished in all those centuries. Who has an interest in other people's poverty? What forces are at work, and what lessons can we learn from the past to fight poverty today? (International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam)