PAYBACK directed by Jennifer Baichwal, written by Baichwal based on the book by Margaret Atwood. 90 minutes. A Mongrel release. Some subtitles. Opens Friday (March 16). For venues and times, see Movies. Rating: NNNN
Jennifer Baichwal brings Payback, Margaret Atwood’s intellectually ferocious book about debt, to life via four human stories: oppressive farmers in “debt” to migrant workers, ex-cons who went to prison to pay a debt to society, the debt British Petroleum owes to the environment, and an especially heartbreaking situation involving a brutal Albanian family feud.
As always in a Baichwal film, the dazzling visuals are the stars, more than Atwood herself, who also appears. Baichwal, a master of the tracking shot, follows a farmer tying up a long row of tomato plants, for example.
And images – by Ed Burtynsky and especially aerial shots by Daniel Beltrá – of the BP oil spill are spectacular.
Taken all together, Payback is both smart and beautiful.
