NEWS

WIRES

OTHER

Worlds Apart Documentary Review

By Miv Evans

This is a timely and intriguing documentary about three different countries who have built walls on their borders to keep out the doomed population next door. It's fast-paced and revealing and each moment that captures a human tragedy paints a parallel picture of politics at its most inhumane.

The fence that was built by the E.U. on the southern border of Spain was not put there to keep out the Moroccans, but to keep out the displaced sub-Saharan Africans who have fled their war-torn villages in search of a new home. Their only hope is Europe and they arrive in such numbers that an entire community springs up, all of who never take their eyes off the fence, waiting for the moment when they can scramble over and step foot in the Promised Land.

Living in comparative luxury are the inhabitants of The Showground, a South African camp created by the Zimbabweans who are seeking asylum from the lawless communities that have sent them scurrying for sanctuary. They spend their days waiting in line for visas that never come and their nights sleeping in open terrain. The place that they thought was going to be a border crossing has now become their home. But these rootless souls are the lucky ones. They sometimes get fed.

Both these fences have been built to keep people out, but there is one that has been built to keep the inhabitants in. It's over 160 miles long and, by the time the Indians have finished building, it will surround every inch of Bangladesh, the country in its midst that has the misfortune to be poor. Apart from this wall being cataclysmically uncivilized, isn't imprisoning an entire country illegal? I assume since the Human Rights mob aren't yelling their heads off, the Bangladeshians are too poor for them too.

The general consensus of the 'keeper-outers' is that they can't treat these poor wretches well as that would attract even more poor wretches, and where would they be then? There's also a yet-to-be-denied rumor that the Indians are going to electrify parts of their fence, so trespassers will face certain death if they pick the wrong spot. Lucky for the sub-Saharans Europe won't be following suit, not on any moral grounds, of course, but if it got out that innocent people had got electrocuted while trying to climb over some barbed wire, it would embarrass the hell out of the Germans.

See the complete movie here:

To read more reviews by Miv Evans please click her pic. Contact Miv at www.thetrailerfestival.com