Darwins Nightmare - Essay Example

?Movie Review: Darwin’s Nightmare There are two things which struck me instantly about this documentary, the first one undoubtedly being its But the second and more disheartening of the two is the nonchalance of the people of Mwanza, Tanzania who are portrayed in the movie. The film as we see is shot in such a way that the camera constantly shifts focus from person to object to activity to landscape which is exactly how the people featured in it seem to convey their thoughts and emotions (or the lack of it). This I think is the most haunting aspect of the film, the strong and unmistakable undertone of insouciance of which I will come back to a bit later. The plot revolves around different people, the local fishing community, homeless kids, prostitutes, Russian cargo pilots, a night watchman, a priest and many others but linked by a common thread – the fishing of the Nile Perch in Lake Victoria for export to Europe and the subsequent import of arms to perpetrate war in Africa. And when the Russian pilot says; “The children of Angola receive guns for Christmas, the children of Europe receive grapes”, we somehow get an idea of the dystopian manner in which globalization and social and ecological disintegration have impacted the lesser privileged societies of the world and we cannot help but accept the truth with a pinch of salt. The past decade has been one of large scale production, mass consumption, commercialization, globalization and much more. With the advent of the capitalist and consumerist culture, the world has seen many of the developing economies involving themselves actively in global trade and exports. And many of these nations have prided in higher economic stability and rates of growth as well as an improvement in the standard of living of their people. But what Hubert Sauper tries to explain through “Darwin’s Nightmare” is the fact that much of this holds true only in statistics and numbers and the reality is no way near agreement with figures and findings. Centered in and around Lake Victoria in Tanzania, Sauper tells the story of how the incessant fishing at the lake has left a devastating aftermath on the ecology and economy of the country. In the 1960s the Nile perch was introduced in to the lake perhaps as a means of food for the local population. However, as time progressed, the predatory perch attacked and destroyed most of the native fish and living organisms thereby causing massive damage to the natural ecosystem and biodiversity of the lake. This was followed by continual fishing of the perch which was being processed as fillets and exported to Europe for consumption. It is appalling to see how the perch in its best form is eaten by the people of Europe while the fishing community in Lake Victoria is left hungry with nothing but the carcasses to feed on. But Sauper’s story telling doesn’t stop there. And that is the most remarkable feature of the film and why I feel the film surpassed my expectations. He shows us not only the ecological effect of the Nile perch and its subsequent fishing but also its adverse impact on the social, cultural and economic aspects of the Mwanzan community. So the ‘nightmare’ is not confined to the Darwinian element alone but is in reference to a lot of other issues such as poverty, social and economic inequalities, lack of political focus, ignorance, misanthropy and the disturbing truth that the weakest sections of society are in many cases unable to receive the benefits of so called foreign aid and support. In other words, Sauper is able to incorporate varied and equally difficult themes of such magnitude using a single canvas and in its most basic form. And the message he conveys comes across loud and clear. There are many visual images and conversations that refuse to leave your mind even hours after the movie ends. One character who needs to be mentioned here is Raphael, the night watchman who ‘protects’ the National Fisheries Institute for a dollar a night. Whether he speaks of crocodiles in the river, how the institute ‘researches fish’ or how to attack robbers while on guard duty or even of previous guards who were killed while on duty, there seems to be a complete lack of emotion in his demeanor, to the point of being disturbing. Like Raphael most of the other characters in the story seem to sport a faint smile that signifies both hope and despair. Elizabeth, the girlfriend of the Russian pilot who is seen singing and in a joyful mood, even though her experiences in life which she casually narrates in between are bitter and far from happy, is another character with the underlying lack of concern. It is truly sad when we come to know towards the end that this young woman was killed by one of her clients and we cannot help but feel some pain when her friends and colleagues watch her video footage and shed a few tears. The Russian and Ukrainian staff who fly and look after the cargo planes are equally devoid of any strong sentiment or feeling probably because their role is limited to flying and maintaining the planes and not much else. But when one of them says about the children of Europe and Africa receiving grapes and guns respectively for Christmas, we feel the pinch of how globalization has caused large scale damage in poor African nations, and how major chunk of the benefits of international trade are only enjoyed by the wealthy nations of Europe; something which is discernable even to a lay man like him. The images of the young children who sniff glue from burning plastic fish wrappers, who fight for a bit of stale food and who roam around the streets during unsafe hours at night are disconcerting to say the least. The indifference of the subjects under consideration, be it the fish company owner, the cargo pilot, the prostitute or the painter boy is something Sauper chooses to highlight and he complements it with images of the delegates claiming the world class quality of sanitation facilities used at the fish plant along side that of locals burning the carcasses amidst scavenger birds and maggots. Hunger, poverty, crime and poor living conditions are things which we know of and tend to associate while thinking of developing African nations. Yet nothing exposes us to such an extent so as to be face to face with these situations as this movie does. When we see the priest in the film who suggests refraining from sex before marriage rather than prescribe the use of condoms in a community where the AIDS pandemic is a serious concern, we realize the helplessness of people in such countries and their lack of understanding when it comes to issues of grave concern. And the image of the local populace trying to feed themselves with rotten maggot infested carcasses of the perch is something that refuses to leave my mind. Here we see a society and its people, damaged beyond repair by the so called international trade practices that are ideally meant to benefit developing nations. The dire consequences don’t end there either. Because the most alarming aspect of the fish trade is that contrary to the local population’s belief that the cargo planes come back empty from Europe, the truth is they come loaded with ammunition, something which has inevitably fuelled insurgency and war in these impoverished nations. There are different reasons why one should watch Sauper’s depiction of life in Tanzania. There have been plenty of other documentary films that deal with nature and ecological issues, some of the more popular ones being “The Cove” and “March of the Penguins”. But “Darwin’s Nightmare” is not just about nature and endangering it. It is also about us, human beings, who form an integral part of any ecosystem, and how we have wreaked havoc on ourselves and our surroundings with our own misdeeds. It is about life of fellow human beings, that is visibly so distant and so far away that it is almost inconceivable to people like us, and yet is something that we cannot ignore or overlook. The movie has an underlying subtle tone of irony and nonchalance despite which it evokes the strongest feeling of compassion and empathy from the viewer. This movie with its astounding eye for detail is probably the closest one could get to reality in modern world. In a time where it is difficult to look beyond our own bedroom windows, this movie opens up a new world in itself, something which we didn’t even know existed. Works cited: 1. Sauper, Hubert, dir. Darwin’s Nightmare. 2004. Film. Read More