Note: The EHS-hub rating system is based on the TV Parental Guidelines. 

Not normally one for Documentaries? This is one to consider.

This documentary, adventure/drama, hits home with it’s viewers as it tells the story of Chris Temple, Zach Ingrasci, Ryan Christoffersen, Sean Leonard, four American college students, who went to Peña Blanca, Guatemala to discover what living in extreme poverty is like.

“Around the world there are about 1.1 billion people living on less than a dollar a day,” Chris Temple said.

For people in Peña Blanca, those living in extreme poverty are mostly indigenous people in rural communities. They work as day laborers or as farmers.

The documentary is filled with statistics and facts about those living in poverty.

Topics addressed in the movie include: obtaining water and food, what happens if there were to be a disaster, kids and their education and how the families work to make money and handle their finances.

After watching this movie I felt more cognizant of the world poverty than ever before. It puts living in poverty in perspective when seeing some young privileged Americans experience what it is like to live that way.

“This journey changed the way we thought about poverty, and we got some big opportunities to share with the rest of the world,” Zach Ingrasci said.

I am now left with an urge to figure out how to help in addition to not taking advantage of everyday items and opportunities in my life.

I’d recommend this movie to anyone because beginning to help the people in poverty starts with understanding how they live. “Living on One Dollar” does just that; it helps those watching to understand what it means to be poor and what that life is like.

Even after watching “Living on One Dollar,” it’s still hard to wrap my mind around how the cost of my mechanical pencil is equivalent to the amount of money one seventh of the world’s population live on each day.