Review: Darwin's Nightmare

For the second write up, I chose to watch the film, Darwin’s Nightmare. From the opening scenes of the film, it is clear that a human rights violation is present – poverty has stricken the land surrounding the Nile River in Africa. People are living in favela type slums. There is no governmental infrastructure. The standard of living for the people seem to be very low – dead animals are strewn about the streets. It is very sad to see this kind of inequality in terms of standard of living for those living in these African countries. The town is made up mainly of fishermen who help with every aspect of the fishing business – they are the ones who physically catch the fish, regardless of the safety precautions set up. They are the ones who prepare the fish, and the ones who guard the fisherie at all hours of the night. In one scene, the fishermen sit around and discuss how European men fly their planes into the town empty, with the expectation of filling up their planes on the way back with fish caught by the natives.

Even from the opening scenes of the movie, it is obvious that the area is extremely poverty stricken. Images of emaciated looking men and women fill the screen – these men and women wear no shoes, and tattered clothes. I found it very sad to watch them live their lives, because they live in a place which inherently denies them of their human rights. In America, this standard of living would not be considered acceptable, and it should not be considered acceptable.

Prostitution and HIV were also big themes of the film, and both films which rob individuals of their human rights. This documentary points out a governmental neglect in paying attention to the very real human rights violations – like sexual abuse against women. The character Eliza is referred to as, the “girlfriend of many pilots.” In reality, she is just a prostitute. In addition to being sexually mistreated by men, she is also mistreated by the men she is surrounded by. The man in the documentary who is noted for studying in Kiev treats her as if she is less than human when he grabs her and pulls her onto the chair next to him.

One scene in particular stood out to me as telling of the lack of attention paid to human rights in this fishing village. Outside of the Fish Research institute, Raphael, the night guard, has his interview. He tells the camera how he gets paid 1 dollar per night to protect the national fisheries. He expresses his discontent with his job, and explains how the last night guard to have his job was murdered while he was on duty. Raphael’s employers put him in the position of being hurt and in a dangerous position by asking him to work all night under hazardous conditions, and paying him virtually nothing.

The physical working conditions of the men who go get the fish sounded very inhumane. Many men interviewed explained how the men would dive down into the water to catch the fish, and sometimes they wouldn’t make it back up. A reverend interviewed explained how wthin 6 months, he anticipated 45-50 men dying in the fishing business. This high number implies a big human rights violation within the working conditions.

Of all of the human rights violations present in this documentary, the discussion of sexual abuse was the most off putting. Later in the documentary, several girls are interviewed regarding their sexual role in society. They explain how they often fear for their sexual safety, often being the victims of in the community fear for their sexual safety, so they stick by the younger boys for protection. It is so sad that these women do not feel safe in their own community and homes.

While I did enjoy this movie, and felt like I learned a lot about a different part of the world, it was very difficult to watch the abuses these people were forced to go through. Since the fishing industry dominates the jobs of so many in the small town, people really do not have an option to escape the abuse. I hope for the future that the women, children and workers of this fishing town are able to escape the situations that they have been dealt, because they deserve to have a much higher standard of living.