In 1989, Carlos Menem became the second democratically elected president of Argentina after the end of the military dictatorship in 1983. He decided to literally follow the recommendations of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank. Argentina became the pampered child of the free trade prophets, but still its economy collapsed in 2002. Bank accounts were blocked; unemployment and poverty skyrocketed. Director Hogendijk films the massive street protests, in which demonstrators bang the roll-down shutters of banks, chant slogans and occupy streets and squares. She shows footage and photographs of riots in which people got killed and injured, and portrays protesters with divergent backgrounds and goals. The ahorristas, savers, really only want their money back. The piqueteros, street blockers, oppose the underlying free trade logic.
