Controlling Interest

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This is the film that helped kick-off the anti-globalization movement. Upon its release, Controlling Interest quickly became a standard "audio-visual text" for those concerned about the growing impact of multinational corporations on global affairs. The film examines how the ever-increasing concentration and velocity of capital affect employment in the U.S., shape patterns of development in the Third World, and influence our nation's foreign policy.

Remarkably candid interviews with business executives provide a rare glimpse of the reasoning behind corporate global strategy and their never-ending search for resources, ever-cheaper labor, and new markets. The film documents the impact of their decisions on people around the world, including how "freedom" has come increasingly to mean the freedom of global corporations to operate without restriction anywhere on earth. The film includes case studies from Massachusetts' declining machine tool industry, Brazil's "economic miracle," and Chile before and after the 1973 coup.

"***1/2! The film Network served as a fictional primer on the 'anything goes' philosophy of the international conglomerate. This substantive documentary offers a valuable and illuminating account of the growth of conglomerates and their influence on global affairs."
Newsday

"A bruising exposé! Hopscotching the hemisphere, the film is interspersed with scenes in a small Massachusetts city about to be deserted for the sunbelt by the corporation that has dominated its economy for a century. The not-so-secret stars of the film are the various corporation executives interviewed throughout. Their shameless fealty to the profit motive and casual barbarisms couldn’t be bettered by wooden dummies dangled on Karl Marx’s knee."
J. Hoberman, Village Voice

"With its broad range of uses, piercing analysis and engaging presentation, this film should be seen by anyone intersted in multinational corporations."
Teaching Political Science

"A long-awaited success! A finely crafted example of mature filmmaking. Although the material is complex, the logical thread of the film is remarkably easy to follow."
Cineaste

"A unique film! Controlling Interest brings the crucial issues of who's in control alive, not only in the world's Brazils, South Africas and Singapores, but right here at home."
Francis Moore Lappe, author Food First