Darwin's Nightmare (2004)

Director:

Hubert Sauper

Writer:

Hubert Sauper (written by)

Release Date:

21 January 2005 (Austria)

Genre:

Documentary

Plot:

A documentary on the effect of fishing the Nile perch in Tanzania's Lake Victoria. The predatory fish, which has wiped out the native species, is sold in European supermarkets, while starving Tanzanian families have to make do with the leftovers.

Plot Keywords:

Lake Victoria | Fish | Perch | Africa | Nile Perch

Awards:

Nominated for Oscar. Another 9 wins

Cast

Elizabeth 'Eliza' Maganga Nsese	...	Herself - Pilots' girlfriend, singer
Raphael Tukiko Wagara	...	Himself - Night guard
Dimond Remtulia	...	Himself - Fish factory owner
Marcus Nyoni	...	Himself - Airport police officer
Sergey Samarets	...	Himself - Ilyushin-76 captain
Jonathan Nathanael	...	Himself - Young painter
Msafiri 'Safiri' Habat	...	Himself - One-legged street boy
Dima Rogonov	...	Himself - Singing pilot
Vladimir Tarasenko	...	Himself - Air navigator
Jura Biriuchev	...	Himself - Freight supervisor
Stanislav Ivanchenko	...	Himself - Radio engineer
Jakob Maiseli	...	Himself - Fish-quality controller
Lalit Malhotra	...	Himself - Simba Plastics salesman
Shadard Mkono	...	Himself - Fishing camp leader
Cleopa Kaijage	...	Himself - Reverend

Also Known As:

Darwinin painajainen (Finland)
Darwins Alptraum (Austria)
Darwins mardröm (Finland: Swedish title)
Le cauchemar de Darwin (France)

Runtime:

107 min | Australia:111 min

Country:

Austria | Belgium | France | Canada | Finland | Sweden

Language:

English | Russian | Swahili

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Certification:

Sweden:7 | Iceland:L | Czech Republic:15 | Singapore:PG | Hungary:16 | Argentina:13 | Netherlands:12 | New Zealand:M | Switzerland:16 (canton of Geneva) | Switzerland:16 (canton of Vaud) | Canada:14A (Alberta) | Australia:M | Spain:13

Filming Locations:

Lake Victoria, Tanzania

Company:

Mille et Une Productions

Movie Connections:

Referenced in "Smagsdommerne: (#2.13)" (2005)

grim but essential viewing

Darwin's Nightmare is a shocking look at how globalization has caused a country to condemn the majority of its starving population to slavery, prostitution and drug addiction while every day over-fed Europeans dine off of its vast stocks of Nile Perch.

The setting is Lake Victoria, Tanzania, the world's biggest tropical lake, and the Nile Perch (artificially introduced by man) has voraciously destroyed every other species of fish unfortunate to cross its path. Most of those lucky enough to have jobs, fish on the lake and sell their catch to be exported far away to Western Europe. None of the locals can afford to eat the meat of the Perch themselves. They're reduced to scraping together some kind of nightmarish sustenance from the left over rotten fish heads (crawling with maggots) that wouldn't even make it into pet food tins for the west.

Of course, prostitution, drug addiction and HIV are all rife. Everyone knows someone who has died from the 'virus'. Large groups of orphaned homeless children sleep rough on the streets at night. And just to ensure that this convenient state of affairs remains in place (and, of course, to make a nice tidy profit), the vast 'empty' cargo planes arriving from Europe actually seem to be (illegally) laden with weaponry to be sold onto the genocidal wars in Africa. The planes are then packed full of huge amounts of Tanzania's abundant supplies of fish (at times to the point that they're too heavy to take off), and flown back out of the country while the majority of its population face the bleak prospect of famine.

This film is a real eye opener and is genuinely shocking. It should be compulsory viewing for anyone enjoying the privileges of the Western lifestyle.