Release CalendarDVD & Blu-ray ReleasesTop 250 MoviesMost Popular MoviesBrowse Movies by GenreTop Box OfficeShowtimes & TicketsIn TheatersComing SoonMovie NewsIndia Movie Spotlight
    What's on TV & StreamingTop 250 TV ShowsMost Popular TV ShowsBrowse TV Shows by GenreTV NewsIndia TV Spotlight
    What to WatchLatest TrailersIMDb OriginalsIMDb PicksIMDb Podcasts
    OscarsBest Picture WinnersBest Picture WinnersEmmysLGBTQ+ Pride MonthSTARmeter AwardsSan Diego Comic-ConNew York Comic-ConSundance Film FestivalToronto Int'l Film FestivalAwards CentralFestival CentralAll Events
    Born TodayMost Popular CelebsMost Popular CelebsCelebrity News
    Help CenterContributor ZonePolls
For Industry Professionals
  • All
  • Titles
  • TV Episodes
  • Celebs
  • Companies
  • Keywords
  • Advanced Search
Watchlist
Sign In
  • Fully supported
  • English (United States)
    Partially supported
  • Français (Canada)
  • Français (France)
  • Deutsch (Deutschland)
  • हिंदी (भारत)
  • Italiano (Italia)
  • Português (Brasil)
  • Español (España)
  • Español (México)
  • Cast & crew
  • User reviews
IMDbPro

Half the Sky

  • 20122012
  • Not RatedNot Rated
  • 3h 44m
IMDb RATING
8.3/10
271
YOUR RATING
Half the Sky (2012)
Trailer for Half the Sky
Play trailer2:40
1 Video
2 Photos
  • Documentary
HALF THE SKY is a passionate call-to-arms, urging us not only to bear witness to the plight of the world's women, but to help to transform their oppression into opportunity. Our future is in... Read allHALF THE SKY is a passionate call-to-arms, urging us not only to bear witness to the plight of the world's women, but to help to transform their oppression into opportunity. Our future is in the hands of women everywhere.HALF THE SKY is a passionate call-to-arms, urging us not only to bear witness to the plight of the world's women, but to help to transform their oppression into opportunity. Our future is in the hands of women everywhere.
IMDb RATING
8.3/10
271
YOUR RATING
  • Director
    • Maro Chermayeff
  • Writer
    • Michelle Ferrari
  • Stars
    • America Ferrera
    • Nicholas Kristof
    • Diane Lane
Top credits
  • Director
    • Maro Chermayeff
  • Writer
    • Michelle Ferrari
  • Stars
    • America Ferrera
    • Nicholas Kristof
    • Diane Lane
  • See production, box office & company info
    • 4User reviews
    • 1Critic review
  • See more at IMDbPro
  • Videos1

    Half the Sky
    Trailer 2:40
    Half the Sky

    Photos

    Half the Sky (2012)
    Add photo

    Top cast

    Edit
    America Ferrera
    America Ferrera
    • Self
    Nicholas Kristof
    Nicholas Kristof
    • Self
    Diane Lane
    Diane Lane
    • Self
    Dipti Mehta
    Dipti Mehta
      Eva Mendes
      Eva Mendes
      • Self
      Meg Ryan
      Meg Ryan
      • Self
      Gabrielle Union
      Gabrielle Union
      • Self
      Olivia Wilde
      Olivia Wilde
      • Self
      • Director
        • Maro Chermayeff
      • Writer
        • Michelle Ferrari
      • All cast & crew
      • See more cast details at IMDbPro

      More like this

      Half the Sky
      5.7
      Half the Sky
      The Girl Next Door
      6.7
      The Girl Next Door

      Storyline

      Edit

      Did you know

      Edit
      • Soundtracks
        Texas
        Written by Nathan Halpern

      User reviews4

      Review
      Top review
      2/10
      Neoliberal Junk
      I'm sure many people are going to fawn over this documentary. The kind of people who think they're highly intelligent and compassionate and loving and pat themselves on the back and blah, blah, blah. Humanity seen through the eyes of the market even as the market has exploited these same women (and continues to - i.e. Gap and other US retailers and Bangladesh factory workers). No thanks.

      Read this and stop swallowing the garbage and regurgitating it.

      Marketpiece Theater Nicholas Kristof and Milton Friedman rescue the world

      tinyurl.com/p2sdf6n

      ...Yet the executives at PBS apparently decided that, on the eve of the 2012 election, American viewers must be reminded of the true path to global freedom. So on the first two days of October, Nicholas Kristof's fiercely neoliberal series Half the Sky reprised the tried-and-true Friedman formula, in content, form, and financing. Kristof, a lauded op-ed columnist for the New York Times, might seem at first blush an unlikely standard-bearer for the Friedman televisual tradition—but that is exactly the point. After three decades of steady high-market consensus in American culture and politics, the formerly doctrinaire libertarian Friedman and the putatively pragmatic liberal Kristof are now advancing the same policy objectives. The bestselling book on which the series is based (which Kristof coauthored with his wife, journalist turned banker Sheryl WuDunn) hits all the high notes of market triumphalism masquerading as considered social policy; its subtitle is Turning Oppression into Opportunity for Women Worldwide, not Ending Gender-Based Oppression Because It Sucks and Is Immoral.

      Half the Sky presents a litany of reforms tailored for a market-besotted (but, you know, concerned) viewing public. The show focuses obsessively on a distinctly Westernized notion of education (and the entrepreneurial opportunities that duly market-reformed schools provide), casts state-crafted barriers to market freedom as human rights issues, and understands women and girls in terms of "untapped" economic returns. "Time and time again," WuDunn says, "what impressed us the most is that girls represent an opportunity. Think of all that untapped potential." Yet in the great tradition of debate-reframing pioneered by Friedman, Kristof's show displays a chronic lack of interest in women's lived experiences under conditions of poverty. Stripped of its you-go-girl trappings, the basic argument is the same: more people should have access to the free market. Even the core format of the presentation—famous and flashy guest presenters, gritty travelogue footage, and a rotating corps of state-sanctioned or academic weigher-inners—is lifted from the Friedman series script.

      Indeed, Kristof remains one of the Times' most ardent parroters of free-market dogma. From his prestigious perch in the paper's opinion section, he has downplayed the grievances of striking workers, single-handedly revitalized the Welfare Queen scare, and thumped the tub for neoliberal educational reform—i.e., the gradual privatization of the American public school system.

      On screen, however, Kristof is happy to let others share the spotlight—and he has plenty of celebrity takers. George Clooney, in the Arnold Schwarzenegger role, opens the series. While images of a young female rape victim in Sierra Leone appear on screen, Clooney's voice-over explains that stories such as hers are "interesting." But the real story, we quickly learn, is Kristof himself: "Nick is the guy doing the legwork," Clooney proclaims. "The celebrity involvement may be able to amplify the story," the actor adds. "That's all. That's all we can do!" Clooney, long known to covet elected office, says this in the surprised tone of a man who has been asked to do more but has regrettably proved incapable. Of course, in a given year, George Clooney earns close to a full percentage point of Sierra Leone's entire GDP from his film work alone, so he could do more if he wanted to. But what he wants is for viewers to honor the under-appreciated work of a two-time Pulitzer Prize–winning Times columnist while images of young brown women living under severe repression flash across the screen, context-free. (The corollary footage in Free to Choose has Friedman droning on about the failures of Social Security to promote market competition while brown urban youth play gleefully around an open fire hydrant.)

      If this were a publicly funded project, a sense of accountability might have crept into the script. But like much of what now passes for public media, the film was funded by a coterie of foundations—longstanding ones, like the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur and Ford Foundations, but newer players, too: the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, Goldman Sachs 10,000 Women, the IKEA Foundation, and the Nike Foundation. These are all, in other words, philanthropic arms of businesses that have derived enormous profits by taking advantage of some of the same women in developing nations we meet over the ensuing four hours...
      helpful•1
      8
      • threecolors1
      • Jul 12, 2013

      Details

      Edit
      • Release date
        • October 1, 2012 (United States)
      • Country of origin
        • United States
      • Official site
        • Official site
      • Languages
        • English
        • Central Khmer
        • Urdu
        • Vietnamese
      • Also known as
        • Half the Sky: Turning Oppression Into Opportunity for Women Worldwide
      • Filming locations
        • Afghanistan
      • Production companies
        • Blue Sky Films
        • Blue Sky Films
        • Show of Force
      • See more company credits at IMDbPro

      Technical specs

      Edit
      • Runtime
        3 hours 44 minutes
      • Color
        • Color

      Related news

      Contribute to this page

      Suggest an edit or add missing content
      Half the Sky (2012)
      Top Gap
      By what name was Half the Sky (2012) officially released in Canada in English?
      Answer
      • See more gaps
      • Learn more about contributing
      Edit page

      More to explore

      View list
      List
      The Best Movies and Shows to Watch in July
      See the full list
      View list
      List
      The Best Movies Coming This Summer
      See the full list

      Recently viewed

      Please enable browser cookies to use this feature. Learn more.
      Get the IMDb App
      • Get the IMDb App
      • Help
      • Site Index
      • IMDbPro
      • Box Office Mojo
      • IMDb Developer
      • Press Room
      • Advertising
      • Jobs
      • Conditions of Use
      • Privacy Policy
      • Interest-Based Ads
      IMDb, an Amazon company

      © 1990-2022 by IMDb.com, Inc.