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Documentaries about corporations and the bad things they do always seem to be a popular choice with festival audiences, including this former Poli-Sci major (who, admittedly, napped through most of second-year International Political Economy). Harold Crooks' The Price We Pay tackles the issue of corporate tax avoidance and offshore tax havens. While a decent primer on the subject, I found the film got carried away with spotlighting corporate bad guys and neglected to answer some key questions.
To avoid relying too heavily on talking heads, Crooks incorporates footage from UK parliamentary commissions and hearings with various executives from companies like Apple, Google, and Amazon. The British MPs emerge as the stars of the production. Their feisty, acerbic take-downs of the suits in the hot seat approaches near fervor at times, giving the audience plenty to boo and hiss about. Enjoyable as that was, Crooks drops the ball when it comes to making the case for the link between corporate tax avoidance and an increasingly heavy tax burden on the public. I accept the thesis, but I would have liked to see some more numbers to back it up. You can't call your film The Price We Pay without telling me what that price actually is.
Best,
Nat
