Darwin's Nightmare

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Darwin's Nightmare
Darwin's Nightmare poster.jpg
Darwin's Nightmare promotional poster
Directed by Hubert Sauper
Written byHubert Sauper
Produced byHubert Sauper
Barbara Albert
Martin Gschlacht
Edouard Mauriat
Antonin Svoboda
Hubert Toint
CinematographyHubert Sauper
Edited byDenise Vindevogel
Distributed byInternational Film Circuit
Release date
Running time
107 minutes
LanguagesEnglish
Swahili
Russian

Darwin's Nightmare is a 2004 Austrian-French-Belgian documentary film written and directed by Hubert Sauper, dealing with the environmental and social effects of the fishing industry around Lake Victoria in Tanzania. It premiered at the 2004 Venice Film Festival, and was nominated for the 2006 Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature at the 78th Academy Awards. [1] The Boston Globe called it "the year's best documentary about the animal world." [2]

Contents

Overview

The film opens with a Soviet-made Ilyushin Il-76 cargo plane landing on Mwanza airfield in Mwanza, Tanzania, near Lake Victoria. The plane came from Europe to ship back processed fillets of Nile perch, a species of fish introduced into Lake Victoria that has caused the extinction of hundreds of endemic species. Through interviews with the Russian and Ukrainian plane crew, local factory owners, guards, prostitutes, fishermen and other villagers, the film discusses the effects of the introduction of the Nile perch to Lake Victoria, how it has affected the ecosystem and economy of the region.

The film also dwells at length on the dichotomy between European aid which is being funneled into Africa on the one hand, and the unending flow of munitions and weapons from European arms dealers on the other. Arms and munitions are often flown in on the same planes which transport the Nile perch fillets to European consumers, feeding the very conflicts which the aid was sent to remedy. As Dima, the radio engineer of the plane crew, says later on in the film: the children of Angola receive guns for Christmas, the children of Europe receive grapes.

The appalling living and working conditions of the indigenous people, in which basic sanitation is completely absent and many children turn to drugs and prostitution, is covered in great depth; because the Nile perch is fished and processed for export, all the prime fillets are sold to European supermarkets, leaving the local people to survive on the festering carcasses. As to why the fish can not be sold to the domestic market to counter the impending famine (local news reports relayed in the film indicated Northern and Central Tanzania were facing famine), one fish processing factory manager says "it is too expensive".

Reception

Critical response

Darwin's Nightmare has an approval rating of 90% on review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, based on 52 reviews, and an average rating of 7.56/10. The website's critical consensus states, "This eye-opening documentary brings some of the shocking effects of globalization to light". [3] It also has a score of 84 out of 100 on Metacritic, based on 18 critics, indicating "universal acclaim". [4]

Awards

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Perch</span> Genus of fishes

Perch is a common name for freshwater fish from the genus Perca, which belongs to the family Percidae of the large order Perciformes. The name comes from Greek: πέρκη, romanized: perke, meaning the type species of this genus, the European perch.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lake Victoria</span> Lake in East-central Africa

Lake Victoria is one of the African Great Lakes. With a surface area of approximately 59,947 km2 (23,146 sq mi), Lake Victoria is Africa's largest lake by area, the world's largest tropical lake, and the world's second-largest fresh water lake by surface area after Lake Superior in North America. In terms of volume, Lake Victoria is the world's ninth-largest continental lake, containing about 2,424 km3 (1.965×109 acre⋅ft) of water. Lake Victoria occupies a shallow depression in Africa. The lake has an average depth of 40 m (130 ft) and a maximum depth of 80–81 m (262–266 ft). Its catchment area covers 169,858 km2 (65,583 sq mi). The lake has a shoreline of 7,142 km (4,438 mi) when digitized at the 1:25,000 level, with islands constituting 3.7% of this length.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Nile perch</span> Species of fish

The Nile perch, also known as the African snook, Goliath perch, African barramundi, Goliath barramundi, Giant lates or the Victoria perch, is a species of freshwater fish in family Latidae of order Perciformes. It is widespread throughout much of the Afrotropical realm, being native to the Congo, Nile, Senegal, Niger and Lake Chad, Volta, Lake Turkana, and other river basins. It also occurs in the brackish waters of Lake Maryut in Egypt. The Nile perch is a fish of substantial economic and food-security importance in East Africa. Originally described as Labrus niloticus, among the marine wrasses, the species has also been referred to as Centropomus niloticus. Common names include African snook, Victoria perch, and many local names in various African languages, such as the Luo name mbuta or mputa. In Tanzania, it is called sangara, sankara, or chenku. In Francophone African countries, it is known as capitaine. Its name in the Hausa language is giwan ruwa, meaning "water elephant".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lake Kyoga</span> Large shallow lake in Uganda

Lake Kyoga or Lake Kioga is a large shallow lake in Uganda, about 1,720 km2 (660 sq mi) in area and at an elevation of 1,033 metres. The Victoria Nile flows through the lake on its way from Lake Victoria to Lake Albert. The main inflow from Lake Victoria is regulated by the Nalubaale Power Station in Jinja. Another source of water is the Mount Elgon region on the border between Uganda and Kenya. While Lake Kyoga is part of the African Great Lakes system, it is not itself considered a great lake.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">African Great Lakes</span> Series of lakes in the Rift Valley

The African Great Lakes are a series of lakes constituting the part of the Rift Valley lakes in and around the East African Rift. The series includes Lake Victoria, the third-largest freshwater lake in the world by area; Lake Tanganyika, the world's second-largest freshwater lake by volume and depth; Lake Malawi, the world's eighth-largest freshwater lake by area; and Lake Turkana, the world's largest permanent desert lake and the world's largest alkaline lake. Collectively, they contain 31,000 km3 (7,400 cu mi) of water, which is more than either Lake Baikal or the North American Great Lakes. This total constitutes about 25% of the planet's unfrozen surface fresh water. The large rift lakes of Africa are the ancient home of great biodiversity, and 10% of the world's fish species live in this region.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kapenta</span>

The Tanganyika sardine is a term for two related species, both of which are small, planktivorous, pelagic, freshwater clupeid originating from Lake Tanganyika in Zambia. They form the major biomass of pelagic fish in Lake Tanganyika and Lake Malawi, swimming in large schools in the open lake, feeding on copepods and potentially jellyfish. Their major predators are four species of Lates which are also endemic to Lake Tanganyika, and are related to the Nile perch in Lake Victoria. All of these pelagic fish have suffered from overfishing in the last two decades.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Marbled lungfish</span> Species of fish

The marbled lungfish is a lungfish of the family Protopteridae. Also known as the leopard lungfish, it is found in Eastern and Central Africa, as well as the Nile region. At 133 billion base pairs, it has the largest known genome of any animal and one of the largest of any organism, along with the flowering plant Paris japonica and the protist Polychaos dubium at 150 billion and 670 billion, respectively.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Michael Haneke</span> Austrian film director

Michael Haneke is an Austrian film director and screenwriter. His work often examines social issues and depicts the feelings of estrangement experienced by individuals in modern society. Haneke has made films in French, German, and English and has worked in television and theatre, as well as cinema. He also teaches film direction at the Film Academy Vienna.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lake Victoria ferries</span> Ferry service carrying passengers throughout Lake Victoria

Lake Victoria ferries are motor ships for ferry services carrying freight and/or vehicles and/or passengers between Uganda, Tanzania, and Kenya on Lake Victoria.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Inland port</span> Port on an inland waterway

An inland port is a port on an inland waterway, such as a river, lake, or canal, which may or may not be connected to the sea. The term "inland port" is also used to refer to a dry port.

<i>Born into Brothels</i> 2004 film by Zana Briski

Born into Brothels: Calcutta's Red Light Kids is a 2004 Indian-American documentary film about the children of prostitutes in Sonagachi, Kolkata's red light district. The widely acclaimed film, written and directed by Zana Briski and Ross Kauffman, won a string of accolades including the Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature in 2005.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mwanza</span> City of Mwanza Region in Tanzania

Mwanza City, also known as Rock City to the residents, is a port city and capital of Mwanza Region on the southern shore of Lake Victoria in north-western Tanzania. With an urban population of 1,311,000 in 2023, it is Tanzania's second largest city, after Dar es Salaam. It is also the second largest city in the Lake Victoria basin after Kampala, Uganda and ahead of Kisumu, Kenya at least in population size. Within the East African community, Mwanza city is the fifth largest city after Dar, Nairobi, Mombasa, and Kampala. It is slightly ahead of Kigali, Kisumu, and Bujumbura in the population of city proper limits. Mwanza city is also the capital city of Mwanza Region, and is administratively divided into two municipal districts within that Region - Ilemela and Nyamagana.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hubert Sauper</span> Austrian documentary filmmaker, director, writer, producer and actor

Hubert Sauper is an Austrian documentary filmmaker, director, writer, producer, and actor best known for the highly controversial Darwin's Nightmare (2004) which was nominated for an Academy Award.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mara Region</span> Region of Tanzania

Mara Region is one of Tanzania's 31 administrative regions. The region covers an area of 21,760 km2 (8,400 sq mi). The region is comparable in size to the combined land area of the nation state of El Salvador. The neighboring regions are Mwanza Region and Simiyu Region, Arusha Region, and Kagera Region. The Mara Region borders Kenya .The regional capital is the municipality of Musoma. Mara Region is known for being the home of Serengeti National Park, a UNESCO World Heritage site and also the birth place of Tanzania's founding father Julius Nyerere. Under British colonial occupation, the Mara Region was a district called the Lake Province, which became the Lake Region after independence in 1961.

The silver cyprinid also known as the Lake Victoria sardine, mukene, and omena, dagaa (Swahili) is a species of pelagic, freshwater ray-finned fish in the carp family, Cyprinidae from East Africa. It is the only member of the genus Rastrineobola.

<i>Oreochromis esculentus</i> Species of fish

Oreochromis esculentus, the Singida tilapia or Graham's tilapia, is a species of cichlid endemic to the Lake Victoria basin, including some of its satellite lakes such as Kyoga, in Tanzania, Uganda, and Kenya. Its common name refers to Lake Singida, but this population is the result of an introduction that happened in the 1950s. This fish is highly valued by local fishermen, who know it as ngege.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Fishing on Lake Victoria</span>

Lake Victoria supports Africa's largest inland fishery, with the majority of the catch being the invasive Nile perch, introduced in the Lake in the 1950s.

The European Film Award for Best Documentary or Prix Arte has been awarded annually since 1989 by the European Film Academy. Special Mentions were presented alongside the winner of the award until 1993, since 1999 a set of nominees are presented out of which a winner is chosen.

<i>Haplochromis vonlinnei</i> Species of fish

Haplochromis vonlinnei is a species of cichlid endemic to Lake Victoria. It is greyish in color with a distinct mid-lateral band, and a rather slender shape. It feeds mainly on smaller fish. This species can reach a length of 15.9 centimetres (6.3 in) SL. The population of the species has declined due to the introduction of the Nile perch in the 1950s. It has not been recorded since 1980 and the IUCN lists it as "Critically Endangered" and considers it may already be extinct. This fish is named in honour of the Swedish naturalist, Carl Linnaeus.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Fisheries Survey of Lake Victoria</span>

Lake Victoria supports Africa's largest inland fishery, with the majority of present catch being the invasive Nile perch, introduced to the Lake in the 1950s. Prior to the introduction of Nile perch as well as Nile tilapia, the fish community was very different and consisted mainly of 'Ngege' and Victoria tilapia as well as vast numbers of Haplochromis species. Fish communities in the first half of the 20th century are known primarily from a unique fisheries survey conducted in 1927-1928 by the Colonial Office.

References

  1. "NY Times: Darwin's Nightmare". Movies & TV Dept. The New York Times . 2009. Archived from the original on 2009-11-11. Retrieved 2008-11-23.
  2. Dizikes, Peter (2006-03-05). "Fish, guns and famine". The Boston Globe . Retrieved 2010-10-25.
  3. "Darwin's Nightmare". Rotten Tomatoes .
  4. "Darwin's Nightmare". Metacritic .