WHAT makes The Divide stand out as documentary on the ever-widening gap between rich and poor is that it focuses very much on the human stories of those affected by the vicious attacks on the most vulnerable in society.

No cinematic essay on macroeconomics, it’s a slice-of-life look at seven people brought to their knees by poverty in Britain and the US.

There’s Keith, whose US prison has turned him into a brutalised volcano of resentment, and Rochelle from Newcastle, who doesn’t get respect for her carer job and whose long hours don’t allow her time for her kids. Ostracised by neighbours in the wealthy gated community she thought she’d “escaped” to, Jen in Sacramento endures a waking nightmare of snobbery.