The Big Sellout [Public Private Partnership]

What happens when supplies of water, energy, public transporation and health care are privatized? A German documentary film, "The Big Sellout," takes on this challenge by portraying the everyday consequences of privatized services. Director Florian Opitz shows how privatization looks and feels to a British train driver, a Philippine mother, a South African activist and the citizens of a Bolivian city.

The Philippine mother, Minda, "is struggling to find money for the dialysis her son needs twice a week because Philippine health care has been largely privatized and the poor don't have access to it anymore. Bongani and his team of 'electro-guerillas' roam their South African township and illegally restore electricity to homes of people too poor to pay their bills to the to be privatized supplier. And Simon humorously relates his adventures as a train driver, first for British Rail, and then for countless other firms that come and go with a regularity that has long disappeared from the train schedule."

The film also tells the story of the citizens of Cochabamba, Bolivia, fighting the American corporation Bechtel, which tried to control the municipal water supply. For commentary, we hear from Nobel Prize winner Joseph Stiglitz, once chief economist for the World Bank and now a critic of neoliberal global trade.

Please note: This documentary has only been released on DVD in Germany and Hungary. In other parts of the world it is only available for corporations and public institutions. Most of the documentary is in English. No subtitles.

If you want to buy the DVD (region 2), go to either amazon.com or amazon.co.uk and search for "Der große Ausverkauf".

Number of files: 1
Run time: 1 hour, 35 minutes
Video codec: xvid, 768 kbps, 640x352, 25 fps
Audio codec: mp3, 96 kbps, 44 kHz, mono, cbr
Source: DVD (PAL, 16:9)