McNeilFilmAnnotation8

Title: Burning In the Sun Director: Cambria Matlow, Morgan Robinson Release year: 2010


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

26-year-old charmer Daniel Dembele is an entrepreneur in Mali. Daniel decides to return home and begin his own business building solar panels for the citizens in his country, which are struggling to develop infrastructure. Mali is located in central Africa, and is a third world country that is about twice the size of Texas. Many of the people in Mali don’t have clean water or electricity. The implications of being able to supply citizens with unlimited electricity could be audacious.


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

There isn’t much scientific information provided in the way of how many people in the country don’t have access to water or electricity. Also there is no technical information regarding the wattage output of the panels or how much power is required for the buildings being supplied. This information would have been useful and interesting.


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

There are two sustainability problem presented in this film. First is that there are many countries left in this world that don’t have access to electricity or to water. These third world countries have little to no hope to develop if they can’t rely on the modern conveniences that you and I take for granted. Second Energy itself is a sustainable issue. Here in the United States we are facing many problems because we rely on fossil fuels for a majority of our energy. Rather than Mali following our example, they’re constructing their soon to be infrastructure from sustainable solar power.


 * What parts of the film did you find most persuasive and compelling? Why?**

I found the film to be very compelling. Electricity has been around for over 100 years and there are still places in this world that don’t have access to it. This is unacceptable. For cultures to begin to develop and better themselves they need to have electricity to utilize, along with other resources such as clean water. If developing countries have access to these every day amenities that most of us take for granted, then they will help themselves, rather than relying on first world countries to donate goods and services.


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

I found the movie to be incredibly inspiring. I was convinced that Daniel had the resources and the skills to develop his business. This could be seen by the way he handled unexpected problems that he was presented with throughout the movie. He was also very passionate about learning more about this topic to advance him. Finally he always brings up his opportunity to help the people of his country, not exploit them and make money. I think this integral in a business, if you put people and planet first; the profits will follow.


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

There are individuals in this country that don’t seem to care what happens to citizens of third world countries. To them they were the unlucky ones to be born there and they will learn to cope with the challenges that are presented to them. Well that is really the wrong mindset to take when thinking of people in less developed parts of the world. Individuals need to start caring and be more involved with other parts of the world. Individuals that may be illiterate or not have access to electricity are unable to help themselves. I believe it becomes the responsibility of other people to try to educate and assist others that need the help.


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

I think for technical information would have really made the movie stand out. Overall the movie was informative and stuck an emotional chord with me. I was moved by Daniel’s patriotism towards his people and how he wanted to help develop his country in a sustainably conscious way.


 * 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.**

The film doesn’t explicitly suggest any specific corrective action. However, Daniel’s business will most likely do very well because he had many people asking for quotes and inquiring about his services. He’s only one person thought so even if his business grows and flourishes there still be a huge demand for panels that he cannot fulfill. I think it would be useful if some of his workers branched out and started their own photo-voltaic businesses in other parts of Mali, this would be one way of Mali to prosper faster.


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

This is a website that provides information on solar rebate incentives, as well as federal and state tax rebates. I was very interested in the cost of a solar system and how much the net cost to power approximately half a standard home. I found a lot of information on different types of cells as well as programs available to people such as 3rd party sales agents that supply information to possible buyers, with the intentions of educating them. Also there are programs that will train individuals to be those third party agents. I was surprised to see that many people who apply for rebates on the federal level get about half of their original investment reimbursed to them. Then on the state level, about half again reimbursed, so the total cost to the consumer is about 25% of the retail price after rebates. This means, today you can invest $20,000 in a solar system and get $15,000 back in rebates. That’s not bad considering you’ll be saving money every month on your energy bills.
 * http://solarcommunity.com/new-york**

This is a website that provides a lot of information regarding solar energy and energy policies. The site also discusses many solar projects for people interested in furthering their knowledge of solar power and how minor modifications can affect the efficiency of the panel or how different wavelength of light change the effectiveness of a panel. This is very intriguing because many people are experimenting with lenses to increase the efficiency of a panel while minimizing the size to make them more affordable.
 * http://www.makeitsolar.com/solar-energy-information**