Africa, the Petri Dish

Africa, the Petri Dish
Darwin’s Nightmare is a documentary about the correlation of one man’s experiment to place a non-indigenous predatory species of fish called the Nile Perch and AID’s, prostitution, orphans, glue-sniffing, poverty, famine, trade of arms, and rape.
In the article, Can a film change the world? By Rebecca Winter’s Keegan, she talks about films that have benefited through filmanthrapy and films that have slightly backfired. Also, discussed how star power may or may not have a defining power on how well a film does at the box office, regardless of how much they advocate it.
I was interested on the take of Documentaries to Revisit: Darwin’s Nightmare, how they referred to it as a film noir. But looking past the mechanics of a typical film noir, I realized that the story of this region if Africa didn’t seem to have a happy ending, or an ending at all. It seemed to just tell its story expecting a response from the audience.
As a Nigerian-American I often sigh whenever I watch something about Africa, whether it be a narrative film, a documentary, or Animal Planet. I’m just sick and tired of the Africa they are comfortable in showing, and hoping to see the Africa they don’t want people to see. That’s how I felt when we watched the documentary Darwin’s Nightmare. I had no idea, in the first 5 minutes what this film was about, and I was consciously aware of that. However, once they started talking about Africa, I hoped that they wouldn’t show the shanty areas, the AIDS, and famine. All though none of the topics were left on the table, I was impressed on the correlation of how some idiot’s experiment changed and shaped the economy, way of life, and society of a nation. As Francois Garcon stated “To me Darwin’s Nightmare is no different to what colonialist did in Africa…we report negative things about this land, but every year we scramble for its resources” I cannot agree with him more. Colonization was an experiment in where countries are formed ambiguously in which civil wars are common sense. Look at Sudan, look at Nigeria.
I had conflicting feelings about this film. As I watched, I conscientiously thought of the other students watching with me, that those who had never had any previous knowledge on Africa will base all their knowledge on the continent relayed in this film. And those, moreover, who had always known the stereotypes of Africa, would have it reaffirmed. So it was truly a lose-lose situation. However, on the other hand, it was bittersweet to know that the problems specifically to Tanzania were, in my opinion, a direct result of the European fish tomfoolery. I felt that I, as a person had to do something for these children who have real dreams. However, after being propelled to do something usually within 5 minutes after watching the film, the bad taste the film has left in your mouth starts fading, in that the motivation to do something is no longer propelled- perhaps laziness. Non-the-less, I’m glad that the documentary was done. At least, maybe, African’s can find the strength to stop fighting themselves, and start fighting the “neo-colonizers,” but that would require motivation. However, many African’s in the film had no idea that the planes were coming in full of cargo, of ammunition.
I liked the word, Filmanthrapy, in the article Can a film change the world? They define it as it, “changes the metrics of measurement from box office and revenues to number of volunteers and amount of money raised.
Suggested films:
Lost Boys of Sudan (2003)
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0383475/
Darfur Now
http://www.movie.nytimes.com/2007/11/02/movies/02darf.html
Attack on Darfur Movie 2010
http://www.pitaara.us/?p=4244