Review of A Dog Called Money

As interesting as this is to a non PJ Harvey fan, I have not heard any of her music prior to this, this documentary leaves an overwhelming sense of exploitation. Part travel doc, part recording session and part navel gazing we follow PJ Harvey through a number of destinations. All they have in common is poverty, war and human suffering. This appears as a kind of poverty and grief safari which the artist can use as "inspiration" for an album which will no doubt bring in some cash. I used commas for inspiration as some of the resulting tracks seem to steal music from the locals of where she visits, no doubt they will be left off the sleeve notes and without cash from their input. Unfortunately white musicians have the knack for appropriation without compensation. At the same time as trying to pretend they are doing something deep or clever by copying music from other countries and cultures. A dog called money? Maybe call it something more accurate like rich artists visit the poor for profit? It's well shot but it's a very shallow exercise in rich peoples hypocrisy of pretending to care about the poor while making money off them. A quick look at her Instagram page shows over 330 thousand followers and not a single person followed back. Tells you all you need to know about the focus of this documentary. Avoid unless you are a fan.