Darwin's Nightmare

Movie Info

Genre(s): Documentary

Written by: Hubert Sauper

Directed by: Hubert Sauper

Release Date:
Theatrical: August 3, 2005
DVD: June 26, 2007

Running Time: 107 minutes, Color

Origin: Austria / Belgium / France / Canada / Finland / Sweden

Language(s): English / Russian / Swahili (with English subtitles)

Summary

RATING: Not Rated

Darwin's Nightmare is a tale about humans between the North and South, about globilization and about fish. (Cellulois Dreams)

Also On The Web: Internet Movie Database Official Studio Site

What The Critics Said

All critic scores are converted to a 100-point scale. If a critic does not indicate a score, we assign a score based on the general impression given by the text of the review. Learn more...

What Our Users Said

Vote Now!The average user rating for this movie is 7.7 (out of 10) based on 44 User Votes

Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.

Lee H. gave it a7:
it takes a while for this movie to focus- but when it does it's powerful. The villain is not so much global capitalism as it is us humans. How people can take a wondrous natural resource like Lake Victoria and change it to a hell hole. But as a documentary, the powerful parts are drowned out by the tedious, boring, and boring parts.

Nikko gave it a9:
so Kyle Smith from The New York Post does not think capitalism is the 'real' problem or greed probably for that matter, but then says in the same tiny paragraph that the 'real' problem is the west buying the stuff they are selling etc - pray tell Kyle, what would you call that? The buying of signifiers of wealth etc from the poor by the rich using available monetary services etc etc - well, shit on me Kyle, I call that capitalism. You moron. No surprises you are a new york critic then? Nope. Ignorance is bliss.

Pat M. gave it a10:
I've watched a lot of documentaries - and this is one of the best I've seen. The unobtrusiveness of the interviewer adds to the hoesty and impact of the film. I did not know anything about what had happened to Lake Victoria - so when I first started watching it I was kind of confused - as I watched I started to realize what was happening there - and I felt so sad and angry, so I can only imagine how sad and angry the people there must feel. I

Ina T gave it a5:
The topic is certainly worth noticing, but instead of clearly spotlighting the issues, the document remains a hard to follow, badly edited and protracted collection of interviews, seeming more confusing than unbiased.

Gian N. gave it a10:
This film captures intuitively the complexity of real life and misery of contemporary Africa and its relation with the globalized world. It can only be wished that this film is better used in the near future by professionals of development and international cooperation to solve some of the causes of misery: trade of weapons, lack of institutional building (both in civil society and government) and laisser-faire in economics. This films merits to be taken serious not only by people, but also by organizations.

Joey A gave it a10:
I saw it on TV last night and at times I was almost sick. It's movies like these that make you think that make you realize cinema and art still matter and communication can still happen in this over-media-blitzed western world. I see these perch fillets in the supermarket, all nicely wrapped and clean and pink. It makes you wonder about the stories behind all the other clinically pretty stuff we buy and consume in our air-conditioned stores. Connect the dots to the maggots in the rotting fish carcasses and the wars in Africa. At the end of the movie there's a big storm coming. It's like a vision of what's coming. Darwin's nightmare isn't over: it's just begun.

Mike M. gave it a0:
“Darwin’s Nightmare” film was produced by a freelance journalist of Austrian descent based in France. The film maker,[***SPOILERS***] Mr. Hubert Sauper tries to portray that the Nile Perch (Sangara) trade from Mwanza region in Tanzania facilitates poverty, hunger, prostitution, homelessness to children, environmental destruction, loss of lake Victoria biodiversity and human rights abuse in the area. He further claimed that Nile Perch business in Tanzania is a door for importing ammunition to the Great Lake Region. Mr. Sauper claims that high quality Nile Perch fillets are exported to the European market while the locals are left with fish remains, specifically the head and skeleton, popularly known by the Kiswahili word ‘mapanki’. Mr. Sauper mentions Christmas festivities during which European children enjoy high quality food (fish fillets) while their counterpart in Africa instead of such food staff received ammunition. Mr. Sauper in his film inserts a number of scenes that are not natural (cooked one). This implies that inserts were done purposely so as to achieve the intended goal of cheating and tarnishing the good image of Mwanza and Tanzania in general. Mr. Sauper had an intention of showing that Nile Perch business in Tanzania is the main cause of poor living conditions and source of various ailments to the people who reside around lake Victoria.

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