Breaking Social review – Rutger Bregman leads an irresistible rallying cry for global activism

<p>Fredrik Gertten travels the world meeting activists who have had enough of corruption, kleptocracy and structural inequality – while Bregman’s nuggets of wisdom are a joy</p><p>Bicycling Dutch historian <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/profile/rutger-bregman">Rutger Bregman</a> does not identify as an optimist. He says that optimism makes people lazy, complacent that history is going in the right direction. Instead he describes himself as a “possibilist”, a believer in the possibility that things can be different. Bregman is interviewed in this film about corruption, kleptocracy and structural inequality. The director is documentary-maker Fredrik Gertten who travels the world meeting activists who have had enough.</p><p>First, the cold hard facts. Journalist and corruption expert Sarah Chayes, a former adviser to the Obama administration, does an impressive job summarising her analysis of global kleptocracy. In Malta, the son of the murdered journalist <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/daphne-caruana-galizia">Daphne Caruana Galizia</a>, killed after exposing corruption at the highest levels of government, investigates the new scandal of <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2025/apr/29/malta-golden-passport-scheme-ruled-to-be-by-eu-top-court">“golden passports”</a>. The film’s main focus is activism in Chile and the US. Amazon workers in New York unionise (and have a good laugh at their boss Jeff Bezos’s trip to space). In Chile, feminists march and climate activists go into battle against mining companies responsible for drought.</p> <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/film/2026/mar/05/breaking-social-review-global-activism-fredrik-gertten-rutger-bregman">Continue reading...</a>