In a small spanish town, a group of old ladies decide to celebrate Christmas Eve with a "Sit a poor man at your table" dinner: each wealthy household of the town will have a homeless person dining with them that night. The celebrations also include a parade, and in it we find Plácido, the humble owner of a three-wheeler, whose family is forced to live in a public lavatory because of the lack of money to pay the rent, and who has to pay the second bill of his vehicle before midnight or else he will lose it.

In a small spanish town, a group of old ladies decide to celebrate Christmas Eve with a "Sit a poor man at your table" dinner: each wealthy household of the town will have a homeless person dining with them that night. The celebrations also include a parade, and in it we find Plácido, the humble owner of a three-wheeler, whose family is forced to live in a public lavatory because of the lack of money to pay the rent, and who has to pay the second bill of his vehicle before midnight or else he will lose it.

Homelessness, hunger and shame: poverty is rampant in the richest country in the world. Over 40 million people in the United States live below the poverty line, twice as many as it was fifty years ago. It can happen very quickly. 　　Many people in the United States fall through the social safety net. In the structurally weak mining region of the Appalachians, it has become almost normal for people to go shopping with food stamps. And those who lose their home often have no choice but to live in a car. There are so many homeless people in Los Angeles that relief organizations have started to build small wooden huts to provide them with a roof over their heads. The number of homeless children has also risen dramatically, reaching 1.5 million, three times more than during the Great Depression the 1930s. A documentary about the fate of the poor in the United States today. 　　这是一部关于穷人生存环境的纪录片。在美国这个世界上最富有的国家，有超过4千万人低于贫困线，比50年前多了两倍。一夜落魄是常有的。穷人只能依靠食品券度日。无家可归的人除了住在车里没有别的选择。在洛杉矶有太多的无家可归者，一些公益组织开始帮助他们造街边小木屋。无家可归儿童的数量也大幅上升，接近150万，这个数字是1930年代大萧条时期的3倍。这是一部关于穷人在今日美国的命运。

以四个章节描述了男主角带着妹妹从缅甸偷渡至泰国边境，妹妹却被人口贩子带走，男主角在曼谷从事导游工作，却因洪水导致生意不佳，只好重返泰缅边境，想藉贩售毒品原料来赚钱。他一心想赎回妹妹，但妹妹早已失联。　　　而带走妹妹的缅甸女子，为了台湾身份证而帮人蛇集团贩运人口，她一心梦想着新生活，她完成了任务，但身份证依然遥遥无期。全片清楚呈现了泰国边境偷渡的写实景象，并深度刻划了偷渡者对未来的期待、失望、冲突与茫然，真实呈现人们生活的苦闷。

以四个章节描述了男主角带着妹妹从缅甸偷渡至泰国边境，妹妹却被人口贩子带走，男主角在曼谷从事导游工作，却因洪水导致生意不佳，只好重返泰缅边境，想藉贩售毒品原料来赚钱。他一心想赎回妹妹，但妹妹早已失联。　　　而带走妹妹的缅甸女子，为了台湾身份证而帮人蛇集团贩运人口，她一心梦想着新生活，她完成了任务，但身份证依然遥遥无期。全片清楚呈现了泰国边境偷渡的写实景象，并深度刻划了偷渡者对未来的期待、失望、冲突与茫然，真实呈现人们生活的苦闷。

搬砖工沈小虎在被首富父母找回后，首富父母为了测试他是否能成为继承人，故意装穷，沈小虎凭借着自己淳朴真诚的性格成功通过父母考验继承集团。

An early work from the filmmaker behind THE TIN DRUM with an intriguing Hans Christian Anderson-style fairy tale aesthetic and voice over narration. SUDDEN WEALTH is a despairing chronicle of a group of starving peasants who finally seize governmental wealth like a dysfunctional group of Robin Hood's Merry Men, only to be betrayed by their inescapable selves and systematically dehumanized (think bucolic Orwell) and reprogrammed by what we'll put under the rubric of God and Country. Extremely striking compositions at times. Only one man (who bears a passing resemblance to a young John Cleese, incidentally) refuses to go gentle into that good night. The last scene is reminiscent of the endings in both Kubrick's PATHS OF GLORY and THE CRUCIBLE with Day-Lewis, yet all even more chilling with its alienating suddenly reappearing voice-over. SUDDEN WEALTH benefits from an especially strong second half with fuller characterization that makes it come alive as a whole for Schlondorff, whose film's evinces extremely striking compositions at times with stationary camera. Especially recommended for those interested in the New German Cinema.