Darwin's Nightmare (2004)

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.

Director:

Hubert Sauper

Writer:

Hubert Sauper

Stars:

Elizabeth 'Eliza' Maganga Nsese, Raphael Tukiko Wagara, Dimond Remtulia

Nominated for 1 Oscar. Another 13 wins & 1 nomination.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
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

Storyline

The larger scope of the story explores the gun trade to Africa that takes place under the covers -- Russian pilots fly guns into Africa, then fly fish back out to Europe. The hazards and consequences of this trade are explored, including the pan-African violence propagated by constant flow of weapons into the continent. If it is a "survival of the fittest" world, as Darwin concluded, then the capitalist interests that fund the gun runners are climbing the evolutionary ladder on the backs of the Africans in this stark Darwinian example. Much like the foreseeable extinction of the Lake Victoria perch, and death of Lake Victoria itself, the Africans are in grave jeopardy, even as they survive in the only ways they know how.

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Plot Keywords:

lake victoria | fish | perch | africa | tanzania | 

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Genres:

Documentary

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Details

Official Sites:

2-1-0 Films [Greece] Official site

Country:

Austria Belgium France Canada Finland Sweden

Language:

English Russian Swahili

Release Date:

21 January 2005 (Austria)

Also Known As:

Darwins Alptraum

Filming Locations:

Lake Victoria, Tanzania

Box Office

Opening Weekend:

$2,517 (USA) (17 March 2006)

Gross:

$203,646 (USA) (16 June 2006)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Mille et Une Productions, Coop 99, Saga Film (I)

Technical Specs

Runtime:

107 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital Dolby (Synchro Film, Austria)

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Connections

Referenced in Smagsdommerne: Episode #2.13 (2005)

User Reviews

response to other comments

It seems that a common critique of this film is that it lacks focus and asks questions but does not provide answers. Far from agreeing that this proves lack of skill in film making, I think this demonstrates the director's analysis and knowledge of the documentary form. I felt that the filmmaker was conveying Western complicity in this by leaving us to try to put the pieces together ourselves. We thereby actually have to THINK about what he is getting at and the role we have to play in this situation. There is no voice-over in this film, which we are so used to explaining the meaning of a story to us. I think a lesson is better learned when we draw the conclusions ourselves, rather than being blatantly told how to interpret information in a documentary.