Sleeping with Reality

Darwin’s Nightmare is a documentary about the country of Tanzania and the specific city of Mwanza. It observes the social and economic troubles in the area highlighting the fishing industry in Lake Victoria and the effect on the small village. The film highlights a guard, fishermen, prostitutes, Russian pilots, and orphaned children living on the streets in the region and how the fishing industry effects their everyday lives. 

I think it’s important to consider the approach Hubert Sauper takes in making the film. He does not have a journalistic approach to the film or does he have experts that have studied the fishing region and the people of Tanzania. He gives us close up conversations with these people and shows us their intimate daily lives. During the rolling credits, you realize these are not people he has met in a six month trip to Mwanza but people he has spent time getting to know even before the camera started rolling. 

I find his filming style unique, majority of the film is shot in close up which makes you feel as if you are in conversation with these people trying to understand their way of life. The fishing industry was highlighted pretty heavily in the film because of the effect it has on the region.  The people cannot afford to even eat the fish the country is exporting. 

It is also interesting how Sauper went about introducing the idea of the planes importing guns and weapons to neighboring countries to fuel their bloody wars in Rwanda and Democratic Republic of Congo.  The pilots did not even want to talk about that it was just cargo or equipment, they did not want to be blamed for fueling a war. They were simply bringing fish filets from the region back to Russia and Europe. At the beginning, the Tanzanians said that the planes came empty  which seems unlikely, then the idea of certain aid to the area suffering from a current famine at the time.  The film ends with an interview of a journalists’ perspective talking about how he has proof of guns imported from the planes and the export of fish. 

The articles bring up arguments on how the country was portrayed in this film. I think it’s important to understand his intent of the film before judgements are made about how the poverty is portrayed.  I think the quote he makes in the article “Darwin’s Man in Africa by Ruby Rich” shows the intent of the filmmaker. “ I don’t want to start proving things. I want to connect things you might not have connected.” - Hubert Sauper. 

I think he focused on a country that is overlooked because of the constant turmoil in neighboring countries. There are things that are connected that I did not realize which was the intent of the filmmaker. I think its hard to sit and watch a film like Darwin’s Nightmare, it’s hard to think about how people are starving and fighting over food. It’s easier to be ignorant to the situation and not be aware that it exists. It is important to know and understand the consequences of our actions and how globalization effects other countries and some under-developed countries are taken advantage of because of their resources.  By being informed that can help build solutions to prevent further exploitation of developing countries. 

I will be interested to talk in class about the approach of the film and the effect its had on the region and the view of country. I think the presence of the filmmaker is also something to consider he was known but overt about talking to his subjects and the conversations between them. I think about how something is not completely good or completely bad or black or white. There are compromises made between the two. 

Terms:

Hubris- excessive pride or self-confidence.