Review of Darwin's Nightmare (2005) by Oscaro. — 13 Jun 2006
A vision of Africa that surpasses even the nightmare scenarios of Conrad of Greene. Despite the puzzling title (I thought it was going to be a nature program) I watched it with both fascination and horror.
[***SPOILERS***] The Russians bring in their cargos of lethal weapons to replenish the warlords, then leave with boxes of fish from Lake Victoria to supply the European markets. A few of the locals have jobs in the fish factory while the vast majority live in abject poverty, scraping an existence from the by-products of the industry.
Men, women and children, many of them shoeless, wade through the maggot-infested fish remains, drying and boiling them in a hellish landscape reminiscent of Hieronymous Bosch. Orphaned children burn discarded fish boxes to extract the glue from them which they then sniff in order to anaesthetise themselves to hunger, boredom and despair.
The rich nations of the West should hang their heads in shame.
This review of Darwin's Nightmare (2005) was written by Oscaro. on 13 Jun 2006.
Darwin's Nightmare has generally received very positive reviews.
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