michaellyonsdarwinsnightmare


 * Title:** Darwin’s Nightmare
 * Director:** Hubert Sauper
 * Release Year:** 2004


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

This film is centered around Lake Victoria in Tanzania which is the biggest tropical lake on earth. This area has a large fishing economy much of which is shipped to European countries with little benefit seen in the local community. This fish export business has caused and complicated many issues in the area including extreme poverty, homelessness and hunger. The director says “Darwin’s Nightmare is a tale about humans……about globalization and about fish.”


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

The primary sustainability problem presented within this film is the effect globalization can have on a developing nation. This sustainability problem can be tied both into politics and economics. Globalization as seen in this film is a sustainability problem in that wealthy countries are able to increase their prosperity through intense degradation of the already poverty stricken third world populations and these local governments can only keep their minds on the areas single money making export. It was suggested in the documentary that many ex-soviet cargo planes visited areas of war like Congo, Liberia and Sudan delivering ammunitions for the war effort and then to make extra profit returned to Eastern or Western Europe with fish cargo from Lake Victoria. Delicious fish is brought to the developed countries while the starving Africans receive guns to further the devastation in the area. We profit on both fronts while they suffer. The reason these wars are caused in the first place is often due to economic and political factors that are associated with imperialistic interests in these natural resources. One factory owner says they ship 500 tons of fish per day minimum and over 2,000,000 “whites” eat Victoria fish every day while locals suffer from starvation. The incentive to exploit this area is so large that planes overloaded with fish often land in the water and crash into nearby villages. A reasonably full plane of fish isn’t enough; greed has pushed even the planes capacity beyond their limits.

This globalization in Tanzania has caused a number of other political, organizational and cultural sustainability problems. Local governments instead of regulating the industry to bring about wealth and increased standard of living for the local people have vested interests in the fish trade. The shear poverty and destruction that the standard of living creates for the community is highly unsustainable. One town that was referenced had 350 inhabitants; 10-15 of the fisherman from this town alone die every month. Then the abandoned usually HIV positive wives of these fishermen become prostitutes after the death of their husbands in order to feed themselves perpetuating this cycle as their primary customer is other fishermen of the town. There are rampant street children whose parents either are non-existent or dead possibly due to the HIV virus. These children sleep outside and fight incessantly over the limited resources available and turn to makeshift drugs just to be able to sleep at night. Thirty or forty kids were shown in the film fighting over one pot of food; attacking each other to get a few handfuls of rice. How can this area become sustainable in any respect when the organization or culture of the community is in such a state of despair? It becomes especially tough to bring about true development and foreign investment into this area when Africa is consistently “painted” as the definition of dysfunction.

There is also an ecological sustainability issue in the initial implementation of the Nile perch into Lake Victoria. This new fish was introduced into the lake through some unidentified “scientific experiment.” The Nile perch proceeded to eat and kill off most of the other species found in the lake. The reason for much of this exportation and global trade is the vast population of the perch that now exists exclusively in the lake.


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

The film in my opinion had many compelling images that succeeded in tapping into the sympathy of the viewers. Many of the visual images shown and personal interviews strongly showed the true dire situation of the area and compelled me as a viewer. One example is with the film “character” named Eliza. She is shown in the beginning as a call girl for various pilots and by the end of the film was killed by an Australian client. Also the numerous problems faced by the children I found very compelling. These included the sniffing drug problem and the various images of children with missing or deformed legs walking around with make-shift crutches. Also the portion of the film featuring fields of fish carcasses that existed and the fact that millions of these African people eat from these discarded remains. As they showed these fish carcass fields they were visibly littered with maggot and larvae and to the average American would appear more as disgusting trash, not food. A final example is the “character” named Raphael who is paid $1 per night to protect the national fisheries institute with a bow and poison arrow when the previous guard was murdered while on duty.


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

Although the vast devastation shown was compelling it also was slightly unconvincing as far as hope for the future of this area. This seems contradictory but I suppose I was not compelled by the fact that this area’s future is seemingly very bleak in terms of becoming a productive sustainable community.


 * What additional information does the film compel you to seek out? Where do you want to dig deeper and what connections do you want to make with other issues, factors, problems, etc?**

The movie makes me want to look into this area itself for some real facts on what is currently happening in the area and if there have been any developments in the area since the production of this film. The movie leaves you without any real hard facts, only personal interviews and implications of the reasons for the problems in the area. Particularly I would be interested in looking into how and why the Nile Perch was instituted into the lake and possible motives behind doing so initially. The IUCA international ecological conference was mentioned briefly saying 210 species vanished and that eutrophication and oxygen depletion are occurring in the lake but no information was given on if the ecological futures of the lake or the Nile Perch are in danger.


 * What audiences does the film best address? What kind of imagination is fostered in viewers? Do you think the film is likely to change the way viewers think about and act on environmental problems?**

I think it caters to college students and educated adults. The movie necessitates further research to fully understand the situation and problem and requires a level of perception by the viewer. Also I would not feel comfortable showing or explaining some of the scenes from the film to younger children. Although I do not think many people will begin to act within Africa as a result of watching this film I believe that it will force nearly all the viewers to open up their mind to the problems and poverty that exist in many other areas around the world.


 * What kinds of action or points of intervention are suggested by the film?**

Very little in the way of kinds of action that should or could be brought about to help this area were presented in this film. One point of intervention that was slightly mentioned in the film was with the United Nations. The United Nations food program requested 17 million US dollars to feed 2 million hungry people in Tanzania but this initiative was never followed through on. UN programs could serve as a short term action that could be performed in this area. This fact was presented in the film not as a solution but as an irony that despite the immense food leaving the town the people in the area were in need of a food program and how very inefficient this allocation of global resources is.

During the class discussion following watching this documentary a number of points of intervention and solutions were mentioned by fellow classmates. One idea that was suggested was better coverage of where this food comes from for people in European countries consuming the product as far as the carbon footprint associated with the distance transported or the human effect in Tanzania. Also suggested was setting prices or conditions of trading for these commodities through global trade agreements such as the fair trade agreements associated with the coffee industry.


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

The film leaves you very complicated. It possibly forces you to think about the problem and sort it out yourself. No professional narration or facts are given and all information is essentially inferred through character interviews. Although this could enhance the film for some viewers it could easily evolve into a deterrent to some who find the film confusing or hard to understand. Also without real facts in the film some of the accusations that are implied take the tone of conspiracy theories instead of real issues.