The Price We Pay “near miraculous”

John Christensen

Published:

27 September 2014

Reading time:

2 min

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Harold Crooks’ documentary film about tax avoidance has been selected as one of the six best documentaries submitted this year to the Toronto International Film Festival. In his review, critic Jason Gorber cites the balanced arguments, the “flawless” editing, and describes Crooks, ability to make tax law engaging as “near miraculous”. We hope to see The Price We Pay rolled out to cinema screens across the world in the near future

The Price We Pay

There were a couple advocacy films on this year’s slate (fitting given the prominence placed this year on a special presentation of Michael Moore’s Roger and Me) One of these, Merchants of Doubt, has all the gloss to make for a popular hit among those for whom it reiterates what they already know and believe. But it’s a little film about taxation that strikes the best balance between having a strong point of view and giving the requisite amount of contest and competing voices to make it far more than just another advertisement for a given cause.

Harold Crooks’s The Price We Pay delves into the surreal world of offshoring, tracing its roots back to strange treaty laws that granted the City of London unique powers regarding the flow of money. With a series of talking head interviews, Crooks’s editing is flawless, pitting different ideas against one another and allowing even the most cynical on either side to gain something from watching this film. Making tax laws engaging for a general audience is near miraculous, so a film this entertaining and educational is to be applauded. [Read Jason’s full review at Twitch]

The author

John Christensen

Trained as a forensic auditor and economist, John has worked in many countries around the world, including a period of working in offshore financial services with Touche Ross & Co. For 11 years he was economic adviser to the government of the British Channel Island of Jersey. In 2003 he became what the Guardian has described as “the unlikely figurehead of a worldwide campaign against tax avoidance.” His research on offshore finance has been widely published in books and academic journals, and John has taken part in many films, television documentaries and radio programmes. John can be contacted on +44 (0) 7979 868302.

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