While international finance may not be your usual topic of contemplation, this observational documentary-detailing the negotiations between an international team of bank officials and the Ugandan government-avails a fascinating view of personality, power, and the machinations of fiscal diplomats. This is a timely work, both in terms of Uganda's place vis-à-vis the global economy and its internal struggles to meet many challenges on a national level. From a wider point of view, the restructuring of colonial, postcolonial, and contemporary international relationships is shown to be both extremely complex and beguilingly mild-mannered. Our Friends at the Bank goes a long way towards revealing the many masks donned by politicians, diplomats, and functionaries involved in carving out a "new world order."-Thor Anderson