A must see!
It is a wonderful attempt to understand what really goes on in a world fetishized by commodities, advertising and superficial needs.
In her quest to find the history of commodities we use everyday, middle class Redgrave discovers labor, inequality, theft, torture and murder that provided the life she went through without asking who was behind all these.
We are exposed to her internal dilemma between honestly wanting equality and justice on the one hand, and, petty bourgeois individualism demanding the fruits of her "hard earned" money.
This is a constant dilemma among liberals.
In reality, the real culprit, the CAPITALIST CLASS (and not the middle/working class), has shifted the guilt and blame to the liberals at the upper layers of the working class for their crimes. The film revolves around this dilemma and the false feeling of guilt.
While the film correctly targets the results of the capitalist system where torture, murder and theft is necessary for all wealth accumulation, it does not show the 1% of the population who own more than 90% of the wealth in a capitalist society as being behind the ills. Instead, we have an honest, liberal, good intentioned working class intellectual who blames herself and her life style for the problems of the capitalist society.
The capitalist class is non existent as they hide comfortably behind the scenes and the viewer is left wondering if certain layers of the WORKING CLASS is to be blamed for the problems of the capitalist system.
I am waiting for the DVD release. I will buy several copies and give it as presents to all my friends who enjoy both artistically, elegantly done film and intellectually engaging content and story.