Bens+Film+Annotation+10

Ben Clemence, Annotation #10 Burning in the Sun Word Count: 1045


 * Title**: Burning in the Sun
 * Director**: Cambria Matlow, Morgan Robinson
 * Released**: 2010


 * What is the central argument or narrative of the film?**

The narrative of this film revolves around Daniel Dembele and his return to Mali where he starts a small business with his mother’s help. This business supplies affordable solar panels to rural villages so that they can have electricity. The film demonstrates how feasible it is for a modern technology to be applied to a third world country. The solar technology that they are now able to bring it brings electricity to areas that have never had it before. This opens up many possibilities for them that they did not have before. For example, many of the families would pull their children out of school because they needed them to do work to support their family. Now with the addition of powered lighting in their village, they can study at night and get an education. By partnering with Dr. Richard Komp, a solar physicist, and his assistant, they are able to design and implement system that brings this lighting to these rural villages.


 * How is the argument or narrative made and sustained? How much scientific information is provided, for example? Does the film have emotional appeal?**

The narrative consists of following Daniel throughout the process of implementing his business model in Mali. One of their projects is located in Banko, where they install solar panels that power a battery to provide light to the school, allowing students to study at night. They also installed a solar water pump that brings water up from the depth of the well to a large storage tank. The only scientific information that is referenced in the movie is in the dialogue between Daniel, Dr. Komp, and those they are teaching about the solar cells. The film certainly has emotional appeal as it depicts how grateful the school was just to have a couple lights and how much it changed their education. They went from 20% of their students passing their exam to 97% the next year and it was because of the lights. It also shows how passionate the people in Mali are, for example Daniel, and how their passion can lead to great positive effects.


 * What sustainability problem does the film draw out?**

The sustainability problems that were drawn out in the film pertain to economic, technological, and cultural issues. As Daniel points out in the movie, in the US it takes millions to get an idea started and lots of backing. In Mail, it only takes a little bit of money and some backing to really make an idea big. The technology is there to back it up but it is often too expensive to make it a viable solution. The only way the technology was made available to Mali was through the purchase of broken cells. With these broken cells Daniel is able to make complete arrays that he can use to generate power. With this power he can provide local villages with lights and water pumps that were once unavailable to them.


 * What parts of the film do you find more persuasive and compelling? Why?**

The part of the film I found most compelling was the scene of the children experiencing the light in their school for the first time. They showed how excited they were that they could have light at night that would allow them to continue their school work. The best part was the statistic about how the amount of children that passed their exams went from 20% to 97% after the lights were installed.


 * What parts of the film were you not compelled or convinced by? Why?**

The part of the film that I was not compelled by was the part where Daniel was complaining about how the group that had designed the structure and chosen the water tank was not very smart because of the way they had built it. It seemed as though Daniel was frustrated about it not working right the first time and was placing the blame other places instead of trying to learn from the mistake.


 * What audiences does the film best address? Why?**

This film best addresses a general audience. The content of the film required no previous knowledge to be able to understand it. The themes of the movie were also something that people could relate to in one way or another even if they could not identify with it.


 * What could have been added to this film to enhance its environmental educational value?**

There could have been more discussion at the end about some other projects that are going on now as a result of Daniel’s efforts. Also, there was one point when Daniel was discussing why government funded projects were often unsuccessful and that you need to put the money into people’s hands to let them be the change. It would have been interesting to be able to explore this idea further.


 * What kinds of actions and points of intervention are suggested by the film? If the film itself does not suggests corrective action, describe actions that you can imagine being effective.**

Daniel has found the ideal solution for Mali, where the sun is so bright that there are literally “burning in the sun.” Donating to these micro projects would be the easiest way to get involved and allow these people in third world countries to help themselves. Instead of trying to do what we think is best, we should provide those in need with the tools they need to succeed and let them create their own success.


 * What additional information has this film compelled you to seek out?**

I was curious if I would be able to do the same thing that Daniel has done and create my own solar panel to generate electricity using broken pieces. I found that there are several places online that sell broken solar panels for relatively cheap, such as eBay. Then by looking up some how to guides on making solar panels from broken pieces I found a nice explanation of how to do it. There was also a good discussion about what the different types of solar cells are and how easy or difficult they are to work with.

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