Bonsai People: The Vision of Muhammad Yunus
Bonsai People: The Vision of Muhammad Yunus Image
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39 out of 100

Generally unfavorable reviews - based on 6 Critics What's this?

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  • Summary: What if you could harness the power of the free market to solve the problems of poverty, hunger, and inequality? To some, it sounds impossible. But Nobel Peace Prize winner Muhammad Yunus is doing exactly that. Bonsai People celebrates Yunus’ extraordinary humanitarian work, which started byby lending $27 to 42 people out
    of his own pocket and has now grown to helping 1 out of every 1,000 people on Earth. Yunus has created a mirror image of conventional banking—loan small not big, loan to women not men, loan rural not urban, loan to the poor not the rich. But he didn’t stop there. Whenever he sees a problem he starts a business, in a mix between
    business and social work, which he terms “social business.” Yunus tackles some of the world’s most vexing problems from healthcare to education to alternative energy and demonstrates to the world that complex problems sometimes do have simple solutions. A free market with a social conscience—-Microcredit is just the tip of the iceberg! (Hummingbird Pictures)    … Expand

Critic Reviews

Score distribution:
  1. Positive: 1 out of 6
  2. Mixed: 4 out of 6
  3. Negative: 1 out of 6
  1. Los Angeles Times
    Reviewed by: Betsy Sharkey
    Feb 9, 2012
    70
    By making the movie as much about the women as Yunus and his theories, the filmmaker brings a sense of balance to Bonsai People that would have been easy to lose given the international economist's long and much-honored career.
  2. Slant Magazine
    Reviewed by: Chuck Bowen
    Feb 9, 2012
    50
    In the end, it feels unavoidably dull, as there isn't much thematic ambiguity to be found in the assertion that humans deserve life that's defined by more than indentured servitude.
  3. Variety
    Reviewed by: Ronnie Scheib
    Feb 10, 2012
    40
    Unfortunately, the documentary's impact is mitigated the benefactor's constant presence and paternalistic, infomercial-like exposition.
  4. New York Post
    Reviewed by: V.A. Musetto
    Feb 10, 2012
    25
    Yunus would seem to be a prime candidate for a movie about his work. Unfortunately, director Holly Mosher's by-the-numbers documentary Bonsai People isn't the answer.

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