I saw this movie on the first Austrian public premiere. The director Hubert Sauper was present for a Q&A afterward. The general quality of this film is quite good. The documentary was filmed digital. Special care was taken with sound-design which is quite good.
The film starts directly in Tanzania. The Nile Perch, a fish introduced into the lake Viktoria is slowly "destroying" everything. Not only on an ecological level but also economically.
Interesting is the way the director understands his own movie. It's not so much the fiddling with nature (introducing a foreign fish was a big risk) but the way that wealth changes everything. Since the fish is quite expensive, local people cannot afford it. Expensive goods need to be protected, so weapons need to be bought. Don't get me (or the director) wrong. As he explained in the Q&A he doesn't want everyone to stop eating fish, but we should look at it more globally. Every time something expensive is found (oil, gold, diamonds, fish, ...) the whole region around it is changed. Some people get rich, but most get poorer than they already are.
Before the Nile Perch people could live a life. Now everything revolves around fish. Prostitution often is the only way for a woman to make money. Aids is everywhere, and eats away the work-force. Education is nearly non-existing.
The most perverted thing, according to director Hubert Sauper, is, that the EU found out in study, that people in Tanzania are missing protein in their diets. So we sent shipments of protein pills down. But the protein-rich fish gets taken away, because we can pay high prices, and destroy the local market.
After the Nile Perch destroys the lake (canibalism), there will be a blue desert left. And humanity will move on to destroy something else.
The film starts directly in Tanzania. The Nile Perch, a fish introduced into the lake Viktoria is slowly "destroying" everything. Not only on an ecological level but also economically.
Interesting is the way the director understands his own movie. It's not so much the fiddling with nature (introducing a foreign fish was a big risk) but the way that wealth changes everything. Since the fish is quite expensive, local people cannot afford it. Expensive goods need to be protected, so weapons need to be bought. Don't get me (or the director) wrong. As he explained in the Q&A he doesn't want everyone to stop eating fish, but we should look at it more globally. Every time something expensive is found (oil, gold, diamonds, fish, ...) the whole region around it is changed. Some people get rich, but most get poorer than they already are.
Before the Nile Perch people could live a life. Now everything revolves around fish. Prostitution often is the only way for a woman to make money. Aids is everywhere, and eats away the work-force. Education is nearly non-existing.
The most perverted thing, according to director Hubert Sauper, is, that the EU found out in study, that people in Tanzania are missing protein in their diets. So we sent shipments of protein pills down. But the protein-rich fish gets taken away, because we can pay high prices, and destroy the local market.
After the Nile Perch destroys the lake (canibalism), there will be a blue desert left. And humanity will move on to destroy something else.