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Darwin's Nightmare DVD Review

by Kam Williams

DVD Examines Disastrous Effect of Globalization on Africa

In the 1960s, European venture capitalists introduced Nile perch to the waters of Tanzania's Lake Victoria, the world's largest tropical lake. Over the next few decades, this omnivorous, predatory killing machine multiplied rapidly, gradually gobbling up every other species that lived there to the point of extinction.

Despite the disastrous effect on the once-teeming habitat, the experiment in bio-engineering turned into a business bonanza for Russia which now transports about two million pounds of perch out of the impoverished African country annually. A nasty, neo-colonial relationship has evolved in which Russia reaps the benefits of the harvest, while the natives can no longer support themselves by living off either the lake or the land.

Darwin's Nightmare is a damning documentary which contrasts European greed and decadence with the fallout visited upon Africa due to the relentless rape of its natural resources in the name of profit. This poignant picture presents a barren wasteland where unemployment and famine have combined to ruin not only the economy and culture but family structure, too.

Invariably, the African women we encounter, here, are high and practicing prostitution, surrendering their bodies in exchange for favors from the relatively-wealthy white males working in the fishing industry. Meanwhile, the bulk of the black men are unemployed and forced to commit crimes to survive, while their children have been reduced to homeless, glue-sniffing drug addicts.

All of the perch taken out of the lake is exported, except for maggot-ridden fish heads discarded in the manufacturing process. The saddest scene, perhaps, shows one desperate soul saying he actually hopes for a war of some sort to break out, since this would mean he could land a job as a soldier.

Welcome to globalization's New World Order.

Excellent (4 stars)
Unrated
In English, Russian and Swahili with subtitles.
Running time: 111 minutes
Distributor: Image Entertainment
DVD Extras: Interview with director Hupert Sauper, plus theatrical trailers.

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