Delicate Balance

José Alberto Mujica was President of Uruguay from 2010 to 2015, and his modest lifestyle set him apart from others in his position: he gave most of his salary away and refused to live in the presidential palace. An extensive interview with the elderly but lucid former president forms the backbone of this essayistic exploration of the future of humanity. Mujica’s ideas about modern society, where economic interests prevail over human values, are used to connect three stories about people living on three continents. In Morocco, African migrants, many of them well-educated young men, look out over the Spanish enclave of Melilla from their wretched encampment. They hope to make it to Europe one day, to build a new life. In Madrid, entire families are thrown out of their homes when they default on mortgage payments. Meanwhile, the banks get bailed out. And in Tokyo, we see employees making plenty of money, but they are working so hard that they have more or less become automatons.