Darwin’s Nightmare

Synopsis

Tanzania’s Lake Victoria has dominated the area’s ecosystem for thousands of years, supplying food to all walks of life, including the sizeable human communities that have long lived near it. But the demands of industry and populations elsewhere in the world have resulted in the decimation of hundreds of species.

The introduction of the Nile Perch into the lake, whose fillets would end up in Europe, has witnessed a radical shift in the environment and the economy of the area. Hubert Sauper’s film details how the introduction of the fish is endemic of a larger problem related to aid across the region. The film details the appalling working conditions faced by locals who have no choice but to subject themselves to such hardships in order to earn a wage, whilst the living conditions the workers and their families endure are pitiable.

DARWIN’S NIGHTMARE presents a powerful account of the downside of globalization, where the benefits of world trade are only felt on one side and where people and the land they live in suffers as a result.

“Darwin's Nightmare starts slowly, hypnotically, like a cobra with all the time in the world to strike. It immerses you in its reality one toe at a time, until suddenly you are in over your head, gasping for air as the horror of the situation reveals itself in all its savage devastation.” — Kenneth Turan, LA Times