Darwin's Nightmare

Early in Darwin's Nightmare there's a scene that drips with irony: an employee in a high-tech fish processing plant in Mwanza, Tanzania turns over one of those "inspirational" office calendars. The saying of the month is "you're part of the big system."

So here's the big system described in Darwin's Nightmare. Men in Mwanza fish Lake Victoria for Nile Perch. Fifty years ago there were no Nile Perch in Lake Victoria (a scientist introduced the fish as an experiment, and it has since destroyed the lake's ecosystem). The Nile Perch is filleted and the good parts are shipped to Europe for food--about 500 tons per day, says one local official.

The remains, the fish frames, are dumped for the locals to eat. The locals can't afford anything else so they scavenge the fish frames, dry them, cut off the heads, and sell them (and believe me, this is all quite disgusting). At the same time, there is a famine in inland Tanzania and the government is appealing to the UN for food aid.

Meanwhile pilots fly in to pick up the fish. They bring in arms--guns, tanks, etc.--before flying out with fish. And, in fact, the Mwanza airport is a great place to bring arms shipments. Because there's no security or even radios.

So back to the fishermen. The fishermen live in camps and are serviced by prostitutes. The prostitutes are often widows who come from inland Tanzania after their husbands have died of AIDS. Of course, the fishermen and the people who work in the processing plant are lucky because they have jobs. Fishing has become a huge industry; in the late 90s EU inspectors approved the plants in Mwanza so that they could export fish to Europe. Which is great, because the fish can fetch a higher price in Europe. It's not really clear where that money goes, but it's safe to say it doesn't go to the fishermen, or the people of Mwanza (who are eating fish heads) or inner Tanzania (who are starving).

So that's the big system, more or less. One thing that makes the film really effective is that the story is told almost entirely by the people of Mwanza--businessmen, officials, a security guard, children, prostitutes, pilots. From time to time director Hubert Sauper asks someone what those big planes are flying into Africa (guns), but that's about it. It's a remarkable film, and very sad.