Philippe Diaz's The End of Poverty? plays like a video version of "Neoliberalism for Dummies" in the best and worst ways. Exploring how different segments of the developing world remain in grinding poverty, Diaz traces the legacy of colonialism to a modern day corporate imperialism that much squelch million of people to maintain consumer demands of industrialized nations. With an oddly forceful voiceover provided by actor Martin Sheen, the film screened at the venerable Cannes film festival in 2008.

Making the (not entirely graceful) leap from television, Diaz interviews a series of economists, historians, government ministers, academics and labor organizers, complete with title cards...