By Matt Frascia November 16, 2009 | 12:36 p.m

It wasn’t all doom and gloom at Friday’s premiere of “The End of Poverty?” at Village East Cinemas. The film, which traces the origins of global poverty back to the Age of Exploration, offers a reason for hope: things might soon get so bad that the impoverished will rise up in armed rebellion.

The documentary, narrated by Martin Sheen, argues that economic imperialism is the cause of widespread poverty in the Southern Hemisphere. According to the film, international economic policymakers at the IMF and World Bank ransom the natural resources of poorer countries, using coercive loans and crushing debt. At the same time, “structural violence” left over from colonialism has rendered these nations helpless, passive witnesses to their own despoliation.

Read Matt Frassica’s story here: http://www.observer.com/2009/culture/east-villagers-unite-documentary-ending-poverty-rich-critiques