AndersonFilmAnnotation10


 * Film Annotation #10**
 * Darwin’s Nightmare**
 * Word Count: 1520**

This film is //Darwin’s Nightmare,// released in 2004 and directed by Hubert Sauper.
 * 1.** **Title, Director, and Release Year?**

//Darwin’s Nightmare// reveals how the harvest of Nile perch for consumption in western countries is a huge social issue in Tanzania. Not native to Lake Victoria, the Nile perch have also created ecological havoc for other species in the lake. While “two million white people eat” filets made from the Nile perch each day (according to the film), the Tanzanians are struggling to make a living. Some Tanzanian women have turned to prostitution in order to make a living, possibly spreading HIV and other diseases. Many of the native people are glad to just have work, even if it means fishing the large Nile perch (which is a dangerous job) or looking through the worm-filled waste from the fish.
 * 2.** **What is the central argument or narrative of the film?**

Only a few scientific facts were provided. The film seemed to be almost entirely emotional appeal. The film did mention that 210 species of cichlids are now extinct. Someone, perhaps the leader of a small village, explained that 45-50 fishermen died every six months (so like 100 fishermen a year) trying to catch the large Nile perch. Many of the scenes in the film showed the native people singing, probably to try to convey their traditional way of life. Other scenes showed the dangerous and unsafe conditions many of the people lived and worked in. The film’s plot was very confusing and seemed to be all over the place. Just like an essay needs to have some form of organization to make sense to its readers, a documentary film needs to have some sort of organization for its viewers to understand and learn from the film.
 * 3.** **How is the argument made and sustained? How much scientific information is provided, for example? Does the film have emotional appeal?**

The film did not connect most of the problems drawn out in the film with sustainability, but connections certainly could have been made. Since the introduction of the Nile perch, over 200 species of cichlids have become extinct in Lake Victoria. This is a huge ecological issue, since it means a dramatic reduction in species diversity, which has widespread effects on the whole lake’s ecology. The outside sources that I explored stated that eighty percent of the lake’s fish biomass had been cichlids before the perch were introduced, and, as of 1980, only one percent of the lake’s fish biomass was. The political and legal problems in Tanzania are similar to any other Third World country. People are so desperate for any job that they do not care about awful working conditions and low pay. The government may be corrupt and support the foreign powers, or it may not have any power to enforce any sort of labor laws. One man interviewed for the film was paid a dollar a night to watch over the filet-making facility. The last security guard had been murdered. Another problem presented in the film was the HIV/AIDs issue, which leaves many Tanzanian children orphaned and on the street when their parents die of AIDs. Personally, I think that the main sustainability problem was the lack of education many Westerners have about where their food comes from. I think that if many of the filet-eating people were to see how horrible the effects were of eating Nile perch, they would probably make changes to their diet or demand that something be done to make living conditions better for the Lake Victoria locals.
 * 4.** **What sustainability problems does the film draw out? Political? Legal? Economic? Technological? Media and Informational? Organizational? Educational? Behavioral? Cultural? Ecological?**

I enjoyed the scenes in the villages. Despite the sorrowful discussion of all the problems the Nile perch trade has wrought, I found the villages to be pretty. I guess I am very interested in pictures of other cultures from an anthropological standpoint. In general, I am very interested in pictures of African countries since humans evolved there. Other than that, I was very disgusted by the film, in a way that made me want to take action. //Darwin’s Nightmare// did make it very clear that something needed to be done about the problem, but it was not explained what exactly needed to be done. The end of the film was more of a sad epilogue of what happened to the various Tanzanians mentioned in the film rather than actions people could take to get rid of the problem. //Darwin’s Nightmare// did a great job of thoroughly explaining how disastrous the Nile perch trade is for the Tanzanians. The footage and scenery made it clear that this is a problem many people do not know about but one that needs to be taken care of as soon as possible.
 * 5.** **What parts of the film did you find most persuasive and compelling? Why?**

Honestly, I was very disappointed with the film. The back of the film case makes the film sound much more interesting and environmental than it really was. I thought that it would describe the ecological impacts of invasive species a lot more, which would have been very interesting, especially since I feel like I do not know much about invasive species. It was also very hard to figure out what was going on in the film. Perhaps the accents made it a little difficult to understand what exactly was being said, or maybe there were too many interviews with Tanzanian speakers. While hearing native speakers tell their story is really powerful, even when they are subtitled it gets a little boring and hard to follow after a while.
 * 6.** **What parts of the film were you not compelled or convinced by? Why?**

I would say that the audience that would be most interested in watching the film would be people who are interested in issues from a cultural point of view. I feel like I would have found the film much more interesting if I had known it would be all about the social effects of the Nile perch trade instead of the environmental effects as I had hoped, since society and culture do interest me a lot. Certainly, the film addresses more of an adult audience since some of the scenes are rather graphic. People who already know about the environmental effects of invasive species, poverty, and so on would probably be able to see connections to the issues presented in the film. Hopefully, viewers of the film would learn that their filet-eating habits are causing a myriad of social problems in Tanzania, and want to learn where the fish they eat comes from.
 * 7.** **What audiences does the film best address? Why?**

Had this film actually discussed the problems invasive species cause, instead of just providing graphic details about the social consequences the people face, it would have had a much higher environmental education value. I kept expecting the beginning emotional draw into the film to end and the real part of the film, which would be more scientific and provide solutions, to begin. Many films, environmental or otherwise, are like that: they start with dramatic scenes to draw viewers in and then explain what is happening. The biggest problem with //Darwin’s Nightmare// was that it did not explain the scientific details behind what was portrayed in the film.
 * 8.** **What could have been added to this film to enhance its environmental education value?**

//Darwin’s Nightmare// did not really suggest any corrective actions. A local pastor was shown in the film explaining that he advises people not to become prostitutes or sleep with prostitutes, but this is probably not a method that would work. The local people are so desperate for money that they probably would not care even if they felt like certain actions were morally wrong. “Eliza”, the prostitute interviewed for the film, explained that her father was sick and her mother had been in an accident. Since the Nile perch are an invasive species and it would likely be good for the Lake Victoria ecosystem for the perch’s numbers to be decreased, fishing of the species needs to continue. However, fishing should be done in a way that will bring economic benefit to the people who live close by, instead of to multinational corporations who are currently able to get cheap fish filets from Tanzania. Perhaps a filet-making plant could be built that would be owned by the locals. If no other corporations were able to process the fish, the Tanzanians would hopefully be able to charge a lot for the fish and be able to improve their living conditions.
 * 9.** **What kinds of action and points of intervention are suggested by the film? If the film itself does not suggest corrective action, describe actions that you can imagine being effective.**

I decided to learn more about the Nile perch and the scientific facts behind it and invasive species in general. I learned that adult Nile perch can weight more than two hundred pounds, which, considering how large they are in the film, did not surprise me. The Nile perch were introduced to Lake Victoria in 1962 because the fish stocks in that lake were rapidly decreasing due to overfishing. Nile perch are predatory fish, which is why so many species of cichlids have died out. Because the perch can eat so many different kinds of fish, it has an almost unlimited supply of food, at least until it kills off everything in the lake. Commercial fishing of the Nile perch is helping to reduce their numbers, which has the effect of increasing cichlid numbers since they are no longer being preyed upon by the perch. In terms of ecological consequences, then, overfishing of the Nile perch would probably be beneficial.
 * 10.** **What additional information has this film compelled you to seek out? (Provide at least two supporting references.)**

“Africa Invaded: Nile Perch”. Internet. (2008) Available: []. Accessed: Nov. 12, 2011. Blake, Jennifer. “Introduced Species Summary Project: Nile Perch (//Lates niloticus//)”. (2005) Available: []. Accessed: Nov. 12, 2011.