User Reviews

When you sip on that aromatic cup of coffee, do you think about where it all comes from? 2 billion cups of coffee are consumed on an average day, and I'm sure many of us have contributed our daily cuppas to that statistic as shared by the documentary Black Gold by Marc and Nick Francis. From the ordinary black coffee at the local coffeeshop, to gourmet, fanciful concoctions at the nearest Starbucks (there's this new banana mix in town now), Black Gold takes you on a journey of the world's coffee trade, from the consumers right down to the farmers who toil their fields to give us those beans.

But who makes the most out of this trade? The multicorporations of course, fingered and identified in this film as money grabbers. We are taken on a tour of the vast coffee fields in Ethiopia, and Tadesse Meskela is our guide, as he shows us the conditions that the farmers have to work with, and the meagre amounts of money they are making to make ends meet, while the rest of the world gulps our coffee, parting with a few dollars while they make less than a cent. The demand and supply mechanics seem to be imbalanced, no doubt with prices made artificially high on the commodities trader market in New York and London, with none trickling down to the tail end for the suppliers.

Tadesse Meskela's objective is to band the farmers around a co-operative so as to be able to negotiate better prices. They're not on a mission to make prices rocket, but just a few dollars more would improve the livelihood of the farmers tremendously, and to enable their children to have decent education. It's also about the attempts to remove the multi-layered middleman chain (up to 6 links), and I've always been a proponent to eradicate the middle sections because unless they value add, there's no point swelling the pockets of those who does what I deem a "postman's job".

There are a few points which provides starking contrasts between the haves and have nots. What I thought was sly, was the showcasing of Starbucks, its first outlet and its star performers raving about how much opportunity they have etc, versus the source of Starbuck's coffee from Ethiopia, where massive famine is experienced by those in that region. I guess in a capitalist world, those who have money will continue to exploit, and will continue doing so as long as the bottomline is not affected.

However, Black Gold lacked that strike in that emotional chord. It's pure "here's the problem" without offering much, loaded with clinical facts and figures printed on screen. While it showed how difficult the folks down the supply chain are having, that's basically it. We're the clueless consumers as depicted in the documentary who couldn't care less, and that basically summed it up, given its lack of that final sucker punch to ring the message home.

I watched this film tonight in an advance screening at Georgia Tech. The documentary follows a cooperative in Oromia, Ethiopia and its attempts to gain a better price for its farmers. Contrasting the rich urban life of the consumer with the impoverished rural life of the producer, the truth is staggering: The premium price paid by consumers at the counter goes almost entirely to corporations and only pennies on the dollar to the farmer. The farmers don't seek luxuries or to extort consumers, only to be paid and treated fairly and equitably, to dull the edge on their harsh lifestyle. The larger plight of Africans is broached as is world trade of Third World exports. It was extremely refreshing that there was no attempt to preach nor use emotional tricks as are found in many large release documentaries, instead allowing the facts to speak for themselves. This dryness adds both to its authenticity and its credibility.

Unfortunately, no film is perfect. The filmmakers criticize Starbucks for not purchasing Ethiopian fair trade coffee without the context that the company is one of the few purchasers of fair trade coffee from Central and South America. While their actions can improve, they are significantly ahead of other companies with whom they compete. Also, the film displays too many scenes without the context required: "What are we seeing?" The story is an important one but more depth could have been given and a larger spotlight shone on the participants. Even with these flaws, it is a very worthwhile documentary and may give people their first glimpses into the world outside their borders.

7 out of 10: Truth is vicious when you are guarded by lies.

I have to admit that I have been drinking coffee for forty years and I will be drinking coffee when I finally give up the ghost. I found this story to be so exciting, but also sad. I really enjoyed seeing the process of coffee growing, roasting and sale, but I was totally distressed at the fact that a cup of coffee sells for 25 times what the farmers in Ethopia get for growing it. It is further distressing that a small increase in the amount paid would make tremendous effect on their lives. They just want to educate their children and buy them a pair of shoes. Paying them a fair price would probably not increase what we pay for a pound of coffee in a measurable way, but it would make all the difference in the world to them. What is the alternative? They are now growing plants used as a narcotic in East Africa because they cannot get a fair price for coffee. The shame is not on them, but on us. This was a great film and the only criticism I could ever make about it was that it was not in Indonesia, where they make my favorite Sulawese coffee.

If you didn't already know that coffee is big business, then Nick and Mark Francis's documentary should hammer that fact in. "Black Gold" could have quite easily become another impassioned and reckless rail against globalisation but you get the sense that the brothers kept their eyes on the numbers, and directed from their head and not their hearts. Therein lies the film's main problem – facts are boring. It's neither harrowing nor heartfelt. The documentary is bluntly informative of the disparate levels in income of the Ethiopian farmers and the corporations that buy the beans from them on the cheap, and it's quite competent in enlightening consumers of the buried cost of a $5 latte. And on that level, it succeeds. Somewhat admirably, they lionise the Ethiopian people, both the underpaid farmers and the ones who refuse to partake in the hopeless work. But you can also observe that the Francis brothers were hoping for something more from their primary subject, Tadesse Meskela, a high-level representative from the Oromia Coffee Farmers Co-operative Union. The directors do place him on a pedestal for most of the film, even to the extent of including an embarrassingly effusive interview from Meskela's wife as the man proudly looks on.

Black Gold doesn't shout at you, vilify any single corporation or government, or make you feel guilty about really liking coffee.

It does, however, invite you to see a very nuanced and sensitive view of an entire economic and social system that isn't working very well. This isn't "the anti-Starbucks movie" a la Supersize Me. This is a movie that starts the conversation about our trade system and the West's relationship with countries that feed us. Black Gold makes you want to get involved or inform yourself but doesn't map out exactly how, leaving it up to you. It isn't narrated by any off-screen voice overs and doesn't tell you exactly what to think.

I was fascinated to find out how coffee is grown and how small differences in price cause huge impact on farmers' families and communities. As a Washington, DC, resident I go out for Ethiopian food more than I order pizza, so I was glad to get a glimpse of what life is like in Ethiopia and how beautiful and lush the natural scenes are.

Please go see it because it's really enjoyable and thoughtful -- a refreshing new model for how to make a documentary.

If I may begin with a quote from The Wire I will because, when considering this film the phrase "all the pieces matter" did come to my mind. The film presents itself as another in a recent line of documentaries that very much appeal to people of my demographic because it puts an unacceptable situation in front of us and challenges the way we live our lives and allow our lives to be lived. In the case of Black Gold, the subject is coffee and, as a "fair trade" buyer of some time I was looking to have my opinion of the subject informed.

The structure of the film looks at coffee in Ethiopia, Seattle, London and so on as it paints a picture of situation where what the growers get paid is a shameful pittance compared to the amount the western coffee drinker would pay for even a home-made cup from granules. It should be shockingly compelling stuff and I was astonishing to find that it was not at all like this. It is maybe a failing in the structure because the makers seem to have had great access to the subject through Tadessa Meskela, who leads a cooperative of Ethiopian coffee farmers. This does mean that we spend too much time at his level and seeing things with his eyes, which works but is not the best way of carrying the film. Of course this needs to be part of it but it is almost the all.

What it badly needed was a much wider view. OK the corporations unsurprisingly did not wish to take part in this film but it badly needs some evidence of them and their role in the pricing. Without this focus the film doesn't really offer many answers or present a driver for the terrible situations it lets us see. To some viewers I'm sure this will be praise worthy because a documentary need not be about emotion and banging a drum but this does not mean it needs to be lacking in heart just because it is not a Michael Moore polemic. The lack of heart does not come from the subject but rather the delivery; it is a bit all over the place and I'm not entirely sure what some section were designed to achieve – a tasting in Starbucks seems like time wasted in an already short run time.

Overall then this is a so-so film but given the subject and the plight of the growers, even the kindest viewer would admit this film is more missed potential than delivery. Positive reviews tend to praise it for its intension and I do not begrudge them this. The proof though, is in the pudding and that is where the film should be judged. Sadly it is poorly structure and doesn't ever get a handle on the subject in a way that isn't that compelling or challenging – and considering everything that is a shocking failure.

This should be better than it is. It is one of a run of documentaries whose subject is so emotive, like Michael Moore's documentaries that the subject often covers up the cracks and limitations of the film itself. Nick and Mark Francis's documentary exposes the fascinating and horrifying means of coffee producing that seems so innocent when you are making it in the morning unaware of the exploitation and human suffering that went into providing you with this innocent beverage.

Although portraying the inequalities that are part of coffee producing and the cheap labour that is used in order to keep process down and revenue for the coffee companies high this film still misses the mark. The poverty of the Ethopian farmers is carefully and lovingly displayed which makes this necessary viewing for anyone and especially coffee drinkers but the film is still made in a blunt matter of fact way that doesn't allow the farmers voice to be properly expressed and that is the film's disappointment

I just saw this beautifully shot, emotionally restrained documentary at The Ridge Theatre in Vancouver, B.C. It makes a quiet case for the moral necessity of some sort of CODE of global conduct in doing business. The coffee farmers in Etheopia are getting 22 CENTS a Kilo. They are STARVING. The price is manipulated in New York, and WTO seems to think this is okay. I'm fairly confident that 95% of North America coffee drinkers would be willing to pay 25 cents more a cup, to fix this situation. Damnit, this is a wonderful piece of film-making. They find the little defining moments, like a close-up shot of an Etheopian worker, cutting a bag with a naked razor blade.

I saw Black Gold last night in JIFFEST (Jakarta International Film Festival). It attracted me in 2 ways i couldn't predict before. First, it invited me to think of the source of what seems familiar to me, namely, the cup of coffee sold by one of those MNC's listed in the film. Second, it just struck me (dumbfoundedly) at how fair trade is not an abstract issue discussed within the air conditioned walls and have no impact whatsoever with my life and other poor farmers in Ethiopia.

I just kept guessing, whether this film could be watched by coffee drinkers here in Indonesia, and whether, with sufficient guidance by experts in coffee production and trading, they would come to a higher level of awareness to stir consumers' action to protect their own country's coffee farmers from the cruel mechanism of unfair trade in such a global scale.

I enthusiastically recommend this film 9 out of 10!

What makes "Black Gold", One of the best at The Human Rights Watch International Film Festival, is that not only is it a well made film, it has a point. And a very very important point.

In the opening scenes of "Black Gold", The camera slowly rolls through expert coffee tasters, who taste "The Best Coffee in the world". The camera quickly switches gears to Addis Abbaba, in Ethiopia, where it shows the coffee storage places, and the workers in it. What apt movie watchers will soon understand, is that the great filmmakers switch between the luxurious life of drinking coffee, and how a ton of workers dig it out, just to get paid 20 cents.

The ravishingly intellectual filmmakers then switch to 1 man: Tadesse Meskela, General Manager, Oromo Coffee Farmers Co-operative Union, Ethiopia. He travels great distances to advertise his coffee, but his main goal is his farmers. He wants his farmers to get paid what they really deserve.

This film has other points as well, such as the power of imperialist countries, as well as the multi-millionaire companies that sell what they don't really deserve.

Black Gold is a must see.

Black Gold is an astounding look at what it means for the powerful at WTO talks to set a price of $0.22 for a kilo of coffee on the world market.

You might think this topic could grow dull, but it never does: The pairing of these stories and the well composed score keep you on edge throughout the film.

The film follows a fellow who markets coffee from an Ethiopian collective, and his message is simple: Africans are not getting fairly compensated for their crops on the world market. Prices for their commodities are artificially low, keep Africans dependent on U.S. aid, and demean an entire people by not paying them what they are worth.

It's not his impassioned words that haunt you, however, but instead the toddler girl who gets weighed -- and sent home with her mother and no help because she's only "semi-malnourished" and doesn't qualify for aid.

It's the fellow hacking out an beautiful coffee patch to clear it for growing chat, a narcotic leaf that folks chew to feel better and that commands a higher income per acre than coffee.

This documentary is definitely worth seeing if you are at all interested in how your cup of Starbucks got into your hand.

Incidentally, this is destined to be a minor classic in food journalism as well -- it's a must-see for the conscientious omnivore.

A fantastic insight into the coffee trade, especially in light of the fact that many may protest about the rate of Starbucks' hitting street corners despite few knowing the real facts of international coffee culture and trade.

The strength with which this documentary gets to grips with trade barriers, price fixing in the industry and the falsehoods that Coffee Houses provide (to give the impression of caring about free trade produce) gives the viewer a really good understanding of a problem that exemplifies the facts of world economics at large.

Was lucky to catch this film at the NFT in London and thought it was a seriously captivating documentary, largely as a result of the power of the stories the camera was able to provide. The sight of the malnourished child (though not under-nourished enough for aid treatment), although witnessed countless times before in other settings, remained poignant. The juxtaposition of the Barista competition in Seattle against the shots of the Ethiopian coffee traditions was a timely reminder of the differences in lifestyles that continue in the world, despite our proclamations of globalisation and the world effectively becoming smaller.

It would be wrong to call this 'another Michael Moore flick', but it would be a shame if this film did not cause the same level of debate

Agreeing with everything RKeller87 said, this movie shows both the mundane back-story of how coffee gets from the field to your cup but the heart-wrenching story of the growers who are between a rock and a hard place when selling their crops for less than they need to live on. And PLEASE don't say "Why don't they do something else for a living, or raise something else?" Their options are not as varied as yours are, my brother or sister, and when they do raise something else, it is not necessarily better for them in the long run. The Fair Trade movement is part of the solution to this problem, and I hope everyone who sees this film starts asking for and buying their own fair-trade coffee, tea, chocolate, and cocoa.

A insightful and disturbing look at the inner workings of the coffee industry. This should be required viewing for anyone that takes a sip of coffee after the release of the movie. A great piece of journalism that bluntly demonstrates the inequality and poverty of growers as shown through the Ethiopian farmers.

I can only hope that visibility from this movie prompts something other than defensiveness from the multinationals. Do what you can to see this movie.

Also interesting is the demographic breakdown of IMDb voting in the United States versus outside as well as with males 45+ - take a look.