USING FILM AND VIDEO TO TEACH ABOUT THE AFRICAN
ENVIRONMENT CURRICULAR GUIDE
Table of Contents
A. Background Readings
B. Film and Video Guide
Africa: A Voyage of
Discovery
Africa
Features/Tanzania Features
The Africans: A Triple
Heritage
An African Recovery
AIDS in Africa
Angano . . . Angano:
Nouvelles de Madagascar (Angano...Angano: Tales from Madagascar)
Baabu Banza: Nothing
Goes to Waste
Bamako Initiative In
Action, The
Borom Street
Botswana - Planning
the Future
Can the Elephant Be
Saved?
Crossroads
The Cutting Edge of
Progress
Desert and the Deep
Blue Sea, The
The Drilling Fields
The Earth that Feeds
Us
Edge of the Abyss
Everyone’s Child
Exodus
The Faces of AIDS
Forsaken Cries: The
Story of Rwanda
Fragile Riches
Global Links: Curse of
the Tropics
Global Links: Women in
the Third World
Guardian of Africa:
The Tsetse Fly
Guelwaar
Guerra Da Agua (A
Water War)
Hands Up for the
Environment and the Market
Harvest: 3000 Years
Healers of Ghana
Hungry for Profit
Living with Drought
Losing the Land
Man‑Made Famine
Nigeria: A Squandering
of Riches
Once There Was a
Forest
Parks or People
Physical Geography of
the Continents: Africa
Plague Upon the Land
Politics Do Not a
Banquet Make
The Poverty Complex
Previnoba and
Partipative Approach to Rural Forestry
Praying for Rain
Quand les etoiles
rencontrent la Mer
Rabi
Race to Save the
Planet Series
Rain Song (from The
Lost World of the Kalahari Series)
Rivers of Sand
Roots of Hunger
Sango Malo
Season of Hope
Sex, Lemurs and Holes
in the Sky, 1993
Sidet (Forced Exile)
South Africa: The
Wasted Land
Spoils of War
Ta Dona
These Hands
Tree Planting in
Mozambique
Under the Baobab Tree
Waiting
Yaaba Soore
Zan Boko
Zimbabwe: Talking
Stones
Zimbabwe: Tourism Along
the Zambezi River
C. Distributor Information
D. Supplimental
Information
Africa On-Line
Internet Resources for Africa
and African Studies Environment-Related
Websites
A. BACKGROUND READINGS
1. Mbye B. Cham, Introduction, in Imruh Bakari
and M.B. Cham ed. African Experiences of Cinema (London: British Film
Institute, 1996)
2 Dickson
Eyoh, Teaching Culture and Politics with African Cinema, in J. Parpart & M.
Bastian eds. Great Ideas for Teaching
About Africa (Boulder: Lynne Rienner, 1999)
3. Joel
Samoff, Tarzan, Terrs, and Liberation: A Challenge to Teachers Using Films on
Africa, in Teaching Poltical Science 8 (1) 1980 pp 41 -60
4. D.J.
Campbell & J.M. Olson, Environment and Development in Kenya: Flying the
Kite in Kajiado District, in Centennial Review, 35 (2) 1991 pp 295-314.
5. David J.
Campbell, Land as Ours, Land as Mine: Economic, Political & Ecological
Marginalization in Kajiado District, in T. Spear & R. Waller eds Being
Maasai (London: James Curry, 1993.
6. M.P.
Simbotwe, African Realities and Western Expectations, in D. Lewis & N.
Carter eds. Voices from Africa: Local Perspectives on
Conservation (Washington DC: World Wildlife Fund, 1993.
7. Ackim N.
Mwenya, Redefining Conservation in African Terms: The Need for African-Western
Dialogue, in D. Lewis & N. Carter eds. Voices from Africa: Local
Perspectives on Conservation (Washington DC: World Wildlife Fund, 1993.
8. M. G.
Anderson and C.M. Kreamer, Wilderness, in their Wild Spirits Strong
Medicine: African Art and the Wilderness, (New York; The Center for African
Art)
9. Christine Loflin, Introduction, in her African
Horizons: The Landscapes of African Fiction (Westport: Greenwood Press,
1998)
10. B.
Thomas-Slayter & D. Rocheleau, Gender, Resoruces, and Local Institutions:
New Identities for Kenyan Rural Women, in their edited Gender, Environment,
and Development in Kenya: A Grassroots Perspective (Boulder: Lynne Rienner,
1995
B. FILM AND VIDEO GUIDE
Please note: all price and distributor information is
subject to change. Please contact
distributor for most up-to-date prices and other distribution information.
AFRICA: A VOYAGE OF
DISCOVERY, MASTERING A CONTINENT
(PROGRAM 2), 1984
57 minutes in English
Director: John Percival,
Christopher Ralling, Andrew Harries and Mick Csaky
Distributor: Video Library
Company
Price: $79.00 (purchase
8-part series)
Discussion guide: no
Synopsis: Mastering
a Continent is the second part of an eight-part series on Africa written
and narrated by the distinguished historian of Africa, Basil Davidson. This program focuses on the complex
relationships between human societies and natural environments. Through three detailed case studies Davidson
illustrates the adaptive and creative genius of three geographically and
socio-politically contrasted societies.
Critique: This well
produced program clearly demonstrates the complexity and sophistication in
which a wide variety of African cultures/societies have not only adapted to
but, in a sophisticated manner, have taken advantage of the natural
environments in which the exist to develop complex cultural, economic, social
and political beliefs, practices, and institutions. The film illustrates these relationships through case studies of
three disparate societies: the Pokot, cattle farmers in arid north west Kenya;
the Noc, cultivators in the rainforests of southern Nigeria; and the Dogon,
“urban” farmers in the savannahs of Mali.
While the film does an
excellent job in demonstrating how “traditional” African societies were highly
sophisticated in mastering their environments, Davidson does not provide
exemplars which would examine the relationship between human societies and
their environments in contemporary Africa.
For example, there is no mention of the social or environmental impact
of colonial land and labor policies or complexities of these relationships in
urban settings where an increasing number of Africans live.
Recommended audience: Humanities, Social Sciences, undergraduate, graduate
AFRICA FEATURES/TANZANIA
FEATURES, 1993
56 minutes in English
Producer: World Wide Fund for Nature International
Distributor: Development Through Self‑Reliance
(DSR)
Price: $39.95 (purchase)
Discussion guide: no
Synopsis: A series of
short videos showing eight different WWF environmental projects in
Africa. Short titles include: The Bazaruto Archipelago: Saving a
Coastal Eden, 7 min.
Sweet
Success: Beekeeping in Malawi, 7 min.
The
Kayas: Kenya's Sacred Groves, 8 min.
Zambia's
Kafue Flats, 8 min.
Malawi:
Land of the Lake, 6 min.
Madagascar:
Wild Drugstore, 5 min.
Udzungwa
Mountains, 7 min.
Mafia
Island, 7 min.
Critique: Africa
Features/Tanzania Features is a compilation of eight short pieces that
describe World Wildlife Fund (WWF) projects in Mozambique, Malawi, Kenya,
Zambia, Madagascar, and Tanzania. The
vignettes are well produced and address the important issue of involving local
populations in conservation efforts in sustainable development. The film highlights how the WWF goal of working
with local people and being sensitive to their needs can operate effectively in
different countries and ecosystems.
One criticism of the film is
that is presents without question the assumption that people will act in an
economically rational manner, provided with the opportunity to profit from
ecologically sustainable practices.
Some of the vignettes uncritically raise the specter of over‑population
as a source of environmental degradation while other sections blame slash and
burn agricultural practices, although this is not a universally accepted
conclusion within the scientific community.
Recommended audience: Social Sciences, Natural Sciences, undergraduate,
graduate
THE AFRICANS: A TRIPLE
HERITAGE, GARDEN OF EDEN IN DECAY
(PART 7), 1986
60 minutes in English
Written by: Ali Mazuri
Distributor: Annenberg/CPB
Project
Price: $169.00 (purchase
10-part series)
Discussion guide: yes
Synopsis: This segment of the series The Africans focuses on
the impact of economic policies initiated by successive colonial and
post-colonial governments on the African environment. Mazuri also assesses the social and economic effects on
development.
Critique: Garden of Eden in Decay provides a generally
balanced African perspective on development policies and their impact on the
environment. It provides a strong case
for the linkage between the global economy and its demand for cheap resources
and distorted development in many parts of Africa. However, Mazuri doesn’t place all the blame for development
mismanagement and environmental decay on colonials or neo-colonial economic
relations. He criticizes post-colonial
African leadership for its mismanagement, corruption, and anti-democratic
tendencies.
The film does rely on broad
generalizations. For example, in the
beginning of this segment of the series, Mazuri makes an overly strong argument
for environmental determinism. He
asserts unequivocally that people in northern climates were more
technologically advanced because they had to be in order to survive.
Recommended audience: Social Sciences, Humanities, undergraduate, graduate
AN AFRICAN RECOVERY, 1988
29 minutes in English
Director: Sandra Nichols
Producer: United Nations
Distributor: First Run/Icarus Films
Price: $190.00 (purchase)
Distributor: Church World
Service Film and Video Library
Price: $0 (available for
loan)
Discussion guide: no
Synopsis: The people of Sahelian Africa are recovering from a
catastrophic drought which took place during the mid‑1980s. This documentary focuses on the Niger, where
communities are charting new paths to find ways to minimize the risk of a
repeat tragedy.
Critique: An African
Recovery chronicles the Sahelian drought of the mid‑1980s and the
efforts made by rural planners and community members to develop agriculture in
Niger. The film features the personal perspectives of those impacted by
the drought and highlights local initiatives to solve the problems the drought
brings.
The film, however, neglects
to explain the social forces that contribute to famine and hunger. Therefore, a teacher might consider
discussing the structure of pastoral societies with students before showing the
video. Background materials on the
causes of environmental degradation might also be provided to students. The film appears to be a bit dated.
Recommended audience: Natural Sciences, Social Sciences, undergraduate,
graduate
AIDS IN AFRICA
52 minutes
Producer: Roger Pyke with the
National Film Board of Canada
Distributor: Filmakers
Library
Price: $445.00 (purchase),
$75.00 (rental)
Discussion guide: no
Synopsis: This film documents the impact of the AIDS virus in
several African countries, including Uganda, Zaire, the Ivory Coast, Burundi,
Rwanda, and South Africa. The
documentary uses interviews with men and women infected with the virus to
illustrate the ramifications of the disease and the complexities of combating
its spread.
Critique: The AMP was unable to review this film for critique.
Recommended audience: Natural Sciences, Social Sciences, undergraduate,
graduate
ANGANO . . . ANGANO:
NOUVELLES DE MADAGASCAR
(Angano...Angano: Tales from
Madagascar), 1989
64 minutes in Malagasy with English subtitles
Director:
Cesar Paes
Distributor:
California Newsreel
Price: $195.00
(purchase), $95.00 (rental)
Discussion guide: no
Synopsis: Angano
. . . Angano: Nouvelles de Madagascar is an ethnographic film that explores
the Malagasy oral tradition of the passing down of wisdom through myths and
folktales. It features storytellers retelling some of these stories. It also
shows Malagasy life and Madacascar’s landscape.
Critique: Angano...Angano:
Nouvelles de Madagascar pioneers a new approach to ethnographic filmmaking,
at once scrupulously non‑interpretative yet deeply evocative. The central
character in Angano...Angano... is the oral tradition itself which passes down
the wisdom of the ancestors, the "ear's inheritance," through myths
and folktales. Venerable storytellers recount for the camera and their
listeners the founding myths of Malagasy culture. The filmmakers do not dramatize
these tales; rather they document story‑telling itself by placing it in
its social and geographical context. The tales flow into and out of stunning
shots of the daily Malagasy life which gave them life and which they in turn
explain.
(From California Newsreel distributor information)
Recommended audience: Social Sciences, Humanities, undergraduate, graduate
BAABU BANZA: NOTHING GOES TO WASTE, 1992
16 minutes in English
Director:
Mariama Hima
Distributor: Films for the Humanities and Sciences
Price: $99.00 (purchase) $75.00 (rental)
Discussion guide: no
Synopsis: Baabu
Banza clearly demonstrates how citizens in urban townships in Niamey, Niger
creatively make use of materials discarded by industries and more affluent
consumers. The Hausa phrase baaba banza
(nothing is wasted) organizes the film.
Critique:
This is a well produced film that demonstrates convincingly the realities of
the parallel economy in urban Africa.
Township artisans and consumers take advantage of products created from re‑used
and recycled materials. The film's
portrayals are sympathetic and non‑paternalistic. The film is perhaps too short, and therefore
cannot address issues of the political economy, which creates disparities of
wealth and access to the mainstream/ formal economy.
Recommended audience: Social Sciences, undergraduate
THE BAMAKO INITIATIVE IN ACTION, 1992
35 minutes
Producer:
UNICEF
Distributor: Television for the Environment (TVE)
Price: $70.00
(purchase)
Discussion guide: no
Synopsis: This film visits three African countries and
looks at how the provision of health care has been transformed by involving
local people and their resources, highlighting the way small‑scale
solutions can pay large dividends.
Critique:
The AMP was unable to view this film for critique.
Recommended audience: Social Sciences, undergraduate, graduate
BOROM SARRET,
1963
19 minutes in French with English subtitles
Director: Ousmane Sembene
Distributor: New Yorker Films
Price: (information unavailable)
Discussion guide: no
Synopsis:
Sembene portrays a day in the life of a borom sarret (horsecart driver) trying
to earn a living in urban Dakar, Senegal in this narrative short film.
Critique: A
poignant depiction of the lives of the urban poor throughout the Third World.
The film is obviously slanted in order to make its point. The point, therefore,
is well made. The driver of the cart cannot bring himself to charge his
neighbors, and conversely he is cheated by the wealthy customer. The driver's
only crime is poverty, and the system is geared to punish him for it. Sembene,
in this early film, addresses the problems that are common to most of his work:
the futile dependence on religion by the illiterate, the insensitivity of the
elite to the problems of their poorer countrymen, and the loss or deprival of
even the most basic means of employment and dignity.
The photography and technical aspects of the film are
somewhat dated, but they only add to the overall impact of the compact
indictment of the exploitation of the poor in urban areas.
Recommended audience: Social Sciences, Humanities, undergraduate, graduate
BOTSWANA ‑ PLANNING THE FUTURE, 1996
20 minutes
Director: Damien Rea
Distributor: Television for the Environment
Price: $70.00
(purchase)
Discussion guide: no
Synopsis: Damian Rea's award winning documentary
explores the struggle for survival played out every day by both the people and
the wildlife which share Botswana's drylands.
Despite the difficulties, the Botswana government is implementing a national
conservation strategy, considered a model for other African countries seeking
to apply sustainable development. This
film looks at how well the authorities are succeeding in applying conservation
principles.
Critique:
The AMP was unable to view this film for critique.
Recommended audience: Social Sciences, Natural Sciences, undergraduate,
graduate
CAN THE ELEPHANT BE SAVED?, 1990
60 minutes in English
Director: Noel Buckner and Rob Whittlesey
Distributor: Video Library Company
Price: $9.95 (purchase)
Discussion guide: no
Synopsis: Can
the Elephant Be Saved? offers a look at the controversy over elephant
conservation. It shows how the
elephant population has declined because of poaching, as well as how the ban on
ivory has affected people who have depended on it as a means on income.
Critique: Can the Elephant Be Saved? examines
the reasons for declining elephant populations in Kenya, Zimbabwe and Botswana
and explores possibilities for wildlife conservation. The film provides an informed and even‑handed look at land
use options, including the internal and external factors that influence changes
in land use.
Through interviews with wildlife service workers, the
film gives insight into the institutional and political dimensions of wildlife
conservation. The importance of tourism
in the Kenyan and Zimbabwean economies is clearly presented along side the
social and economic implications of other possible land uses. The film also provides a good presentation
of elephant biology.
One of the film's weaknesses is that it focuses on the
perspectives of conservation agencies without giving voice to the small holding
land managers who have the most to lose from conservation efforts. The film also fails to account for recent
developments in the Campfire program in Zimbabwe and the Kenyan Wildlife
Services.
Recommended audience: Natural Sciences, Social Sciences, undergraduate,
graduate
CROSSROADS,
1996
55 minutes in KiSwahili with English subtitles
Director: Hillie Molenaar and Joop van Wijk
Distributors: First Run/Icarus films.
Price: $390 (purchase), $75 (rental)
Discussion guide: no
Synopsis: Crossroads deals with the impact of
the creation of a Rwandan refugee camp in Tanzania. It details the conflicts and dynamics that emerged as a result of
the genocide in Rwanda.
Critique: Without narration, Crossroads
features a number of vignettes by the people impacted by the Rwandan genocide.
The film is set in Ngara, in Tanzania, just across the border from Rwanda. The film does an exceptional job of
presenting the perspectives of the refugees and their hosts in an unobtrusive
manner, and it effectively points to the moral dilemmas that have arisen as a
result of the influx of refugees. For
example, the film examines the issue of profiting economically from the
refugees and the question of whether to treat the refugees as criminals or to
deal with them compassionately.
The film's flaws are few. The issue of genocide hovers over Crossroads, but the film
fails to provide background information on the Rwandan genocide and resulting
refugee problem, nor does it fully explore questions surrounding how the guilt
among the refugees will be determined.
The film is out of date, although this certainly does not invalidate its
worth. The camps have been emptied and
the refugees driven back into Rwanda since the film was made. These weakness can easily be addressed by
the instructor's discussion of the film.
Recommended audience: Humanities, Natural Sciences, Social Sciences,
graduate, undergraduate
THE CUTTING EDGE OF PROGRESS, 1992
24 minutes in English
Director: Eleanor Morris
Distributor: The Media Guild
Price: $295.00 (purchase)
Discussion guide: yes
Synopsis: The
Cutting Edge of Progress, produced by the BBC and Open University, is
clearly intended for classroom use. The
film uses both archival propaganda film from the 1950s and footage from the
1990s to demonstrate the negative social and environmental impact of the
construction of the Kriba Dam on the Zambezi River.
Critique:
The film would be an effective tool in the classroom. It uses archival footage to explain how the colonial regime in
Rhodesia justified the displacement of indigenous peoples. Current footage illustrates the negative,
long‑term social, economic and environmental repercussions of the
decision to construct the Kriba dam, such as the decline in the standard of
living, soil erosion, limited economic options, out migration from the area,
and the disempowerment of the Tonga peoples.
The film does have a few problems. First, it fails to discuss the politics
surrounding the building of the dam on the Zambezi River. Scientists and
environmentalists who studied sites for the dam strongly recommended that the
dam be built on the lower Kafue River, but this suggestion was vetoed by the
Rhodesian government because the government feared that they would lose control
of the dam if it were built in Northern Rhodesia. Furthermore, the story
focuses on the Zambia side of Lake Kariba where less than one third of the
displaced Tonga live. In Zimbabwe,
however, the displacement, and hence the long term effects, caused by the dam's
construction were considerably greater.
Recommended audience: Natural Sciences, Social Sciences, undergraduate
THE DESERT AND THE DEEP BLUE SEA, 1989
52 minutes
Producer: Mike Linley
Distributor: ITEL Worldwide Distribution
Price: (information unavailable)
Discussion guide: no
Synopsis: The
Desert and the Deep Blue Sea looks at the pressure being placed on Banc
d'Arguin National Park to allow commercial fishing on its grounds. This step
could prove disastrous to both the wildlife and the local fishermen.
Critique: The
Desert and the Deep Blue Sea is a beautifully photographed wildlife film
focusing on the varieties of birds that nest within Mauritania’s national park
Banc D’Arquin. This park is part barren
desert and part plush sea coast, the two environments only separated by a large
bar of sand. Other living things such
as beetles, locusts, and gazelle are also featured. Peripheral to the film’s focus are the people who live in the
park. The Imragen, a Berber ethnic
group, have lived in this harsh environment virtually living off the sea. They used to herd cattle and only fish for
part of the year, but a drought of over 16 years has forced them to live off
the sea all year round. Since there is
no other vegetation for food, the Imragen trade their catch for all other
necessities, including drinking water.
The film discusses potential challenges and changes to
the park. For instance, motorized boats
and modern fishing equipment may be introduced for the fishing community and
fishing licenses are being sold in increasing numbers to foreign, mostly from
Europe, ships. The implications of
these developments could have good and bad consequences.
The Desert and the Deep Blue Sea is primarily a nature film that touches on how humans
co-exist in the environment of Banc
D’Arquin. The film raises some
interesting issues of modernity and change, and the dilemma of Mauritania, a
poor country, and its economic constraints.
Though Mauritanians and their fishing techniques are shown, the
overbearing voice over does not give them a voice in defining their own
situation.
Recommended audience: Natural Science, Social Science, graduate,
undergraduate
THE DRILLING FIELDS, 1994
59 minutes in English
Director: Glenn Ellis
Distributor: Television for the Environment
Price: $70.00 (purchase)
Discussion guide: no
Synopsis: In the oil‑rich Niger Delta, battles
have broken out between local communities and Nigeria's military dictators, who
use force to protect the flow of oil on which the government depends. For 30
years the Ogoni people have quietly endured military oppression and watched the
effect of the oil operations on their environment. The Drilling Fields
explores the relationship between Shell Petroleum Development Company and the
Nigerian Government.
Critique:
The AMP was unable to view this film for critique.
Recommended audience: Social Sciences, Humanities, undergraduate, graduate
THE EARTH THAT FEEDS US, 1990
15 minutes in English
Director: Mark Winemaker
Distributor:
Church World Service Film and Video Library
Price: $0 (available for loan only)
Altschul Group
Price: (information unavailable)
Discussion guide: yes
Synopsis: The
Earth that Feeds Us presents a look at agriculture, the environment, and
food security.
Critique: In
The Earth that Feeds Us, a Zimbabwean actress examines the origins of
and solutions to environmental problems while visiting various places in
Zimbabwe: a village, a farm, a market, and a school. The film is tailored to a North American audience, and draws
interesting parallels between problems such as drought in North America and
Africa.
The Earth that Feeds Us does an excellent job of placing environmental
problems and solutions in the context of the resource needs of rural
people. The film successfully reviews
different schools of thought on the causes of deforestation and other
environmental problems. It shows that
population growth alone is not responsible but that environmental problems stem
from complex social, economic, and historical causes.
Recommended audiences: Social Sciences, Natural Sciences, undergraduate,
graduate
EDGE OF THE ABYSS, 1993
58 minutes in English
Director: Colin Willock
Distributor: ITEL Worldwide Distribution
Price: (unavailable)
Discussion guide: no
Synopsis: This film features a description of Gelada
baboon habitat and ecology of the Ethiopian highlands not often portrayed in
nature films.
Critique: The video does a decent job of describing
the habitat and the general ecology of the highlands of Ethiopia. The video
depicts a "living on the edge" image couched in an overall discussion
of how difficult life is for both animals and humans living in this high
altitude and very dry habitat. In
addition to general ecology, habitat, flora, and fauna of the area, there is a
discussion of mountain pastoralists that seems to be reasonably well done with
respect to the classic "people vs park" issue. That is, in protected
areas (such as this Ethiopian national park) where humans are trying to carve
out an existence in a harsh environment, there is often competition between
humans and animals over limited resources.
With regard to the Gelada baboons, the descriptive
information in this video is accurate. The facts on general diet and social
behavior are correct in content. However, the appearance and discussion of
primate accounts only for roughly 20% of the video. While factually correct,
the video is not particularly fun. The narrator has an unappealing tone and the
delivery of the facts is rather pedantic. Moreover, the photography team
filming the animals on the escarpment is a bit too colonial, and the local
inhabitants of the area are refers to as "the natives". These
criticisms should not preclude the fact that this video offers an excellent
description of a habitat and geographic area that is not often portrayed in
nature films.
Recommended audiences: Natural
Sciences, Social Sciences, undergraduate
EVERYONE’S CHILD, 1996
96 minutes in English
Director: Tsitsi Dangaremba
Distributors: California Newsreel
Price: $195.00 (purchase), $95.00 (rental)
Development Through Self Reliance
Price: $59.00 (purchase for individuals), $195.00
(purchase for universities)
Discussion guide: yes (from DSR)
Synopsis: Everyone’s
Child is award winning novelist Tsitsi Dangaremba’s first feature
film. It tells the dramatic story of
four children left orphaned after their mother succumbs to AIDS. Tamari and Itai must find ways to take
care of themselves and their younger siblings.
Tamari turns to prostitution and her brother heads to Harare.
Critique: Everyone’s Child presents a sober
critique of the impact of AIDS in Zimbabwe.
With funding from PLAN International and the British government’s
Overseas Development Administration, Zimbabwean novelist Shimmer Chinodya was
commissioned to develop the story. The
film’s director, novelist Tsitsi Dangaremba, is the first Zimbabwean woman to
direct a feature film. The film is an
unambiguous effort to critique the way AIDS victims are treated in Zimbabwe and
to encourage behavior modification to decrease the spread of the disease. It achieves these ends through its
straightforward realist story line and the use of characters who display
stereotypical and negative behavior characteristics.
The film’s production quality is not perfect. For example, some dialogue is
unintelligible. The story line is difficult to follow as scene to scene there
is a lack of continuity, and some aspects of the plot need more
explanation. An instructor may want to
preface the film with background information on the spread of AIDS in Africa
and on African family structures.
Recommended audience: Humanities, Social Sciences, undergraduate, graduate
EXODUS, 1995
50 minutes
Producer: Mick Rhodes
Distributor: Television for the Environment
Price: $70.00 (purchase)
Discussion guide: no
Synopsis: This film explores how the influx of
refugees from Rwanda overwhelmed both human and environmental resources in a
Tanzanian town bordering Rwanda.
Critique:
The AMP was unable to view this film for critique.
Recommended audience: Social Sciences, Natural Sciences, undergraduate,
graduate
.
THE FACES OF AIDS
20 minutes in English
Director: Frances Reid
Distributor: Development Through Self-Reliance
Price: $39.00 (purchase)
Discussion guide: yes
Synopsis: The
Faces of AIDS is a twenty minute advocacy video that uses interviews with
Cameroonians and Zimbabweans, whose lives have been impacted by AIDS, to argue
that those infected with the HIV virus deserves sympathy and support.
Critique: The Faces of AIDS provides two
valuable services. It offers those with
the disease the opportunity to hear the stories of others who have been
affected by AIDS, and it challenges the negative representations and
unsympathetic treatment of AIDS patients.
The video is unapologetic in its role as advocate, using the personal
testimonials of the relatives of AIDS patients and medical practitioners to humanize those who suffer with the
disease.
As an advocacy video, it offers no facts on the causes
of the disease or demographics of AIDS in Africa. This can easily be addressed by an instructor in a discussion of
the film. A larger problem is with the
video’s tenancy to re-iterate the generalization that many “traditional”
African societies reject individuals with AIDS.
Recommended audience: Social Sciences, Natural Sciences, undergraduate,
graduate
FORSAKEN CRIES: THE STORY OF RWANDA, 1997
35 minutes in English
Director:
Kathy Austin
Distributor: The Video project
Price: $30.00 (purchase)
Discussion guide: yes
Synopsis: Forsaken Cries: The Story of Rwanda
is an overview of the conditions leading up to and the reality of the 1994
genocide in Rwanda, and its aftermath.
Produced by the human rights organization, Amnesty International, this
film considers the way we address the problem of genocide from a human rights
point of view. Includes interviews with
Alison des Forges (historian), Richard Goldstone (International Criminal
Court), and Amnesty International's Adotei Akwei. An accompanying notebook of educational materials provides
historical background to Rwanda, as well as resources for understanding human
rights violations against women, the role of the international community, and
the refugees' plight.
Critique: This film does an excellent job of clearly
presenting a background to ethnic genocide, and the elements systematically put
in place to carry out such genocide. The film exposes the well‑laid plans
of the Hutu extremists and powerful graphic images of the killing taking place
and the dead bodies are shown.
Due to the violent content and complex political
background of Forsaken Cries, it is recommended only for students in the
upper high school grades or college years. Students need preparatory activities
before viewing Forsaken Cries to give them both background information
and some personal objectives and questions to ask as they watch the video. Scenes of brutality will naturally evoke
horrified responses, but by offering context, raising questions of
accountability, and providing opportunities to respond with discussion and
action, teachers can use Forsaken Cries to create valuable lessons about
history, geography, current events, and international relations, as well as
human rights and individual and collective social responsibility. When
introducing the unit, the teacher needs to stress the seriousness of the
subject and the fact that these events are not only real but also recent; their
repercussions continue to have major impact on the international scene. Before viewing the film, students need some
warning it contains extremely upsetting footage. Following the viewing, they may need to express their reactions
to the film in pairs or small groups.
(By Nancy Flowers and Janet Schmidt, Educators
Network, Amnesty International USA)
Recommended audience: Social Sciences, undergraduate, graduate
FRAGILE RICHES,
1993
34 minutes in English (voice-over)
Director: Soren Kloch
Distributor: Television for the Environment
Price: $70.00 (purchase)
Discussion guide: no
Synopsis: In Zimbabwe, the villagers of Mototi play
the lead roles in this hilarious drama about the importance of trees. Matahu
plants saplings all over his land. “A
country is naked without trees,” he says. His friends think he is mad until
they see with their own eyes what his trees do: help nourish the soil and
prevent erosion, offer shade for his animals, and provide food, medicines and
time.
Critique: Fragile Riches features a dramatization of the efforts of a communal
farmer in rural Zimbabwe to initiate a community based tree planting campaign
as a means of stemming very serious soil erosion and degradation. It is a “how-to” video and as such, is aimed
at a rural Zimbabwean audience. The
film features village and agricultural environment scenes and shows how the
villagers take active roles in fighting soil erosion.
The film’s greatest strength is also its greatest
weakness. It is an excellent exemplar
of a develop-education advocacy film produced by a governmental agency; it
advocates community-based conservation efforts. To use the film effectively in the classroom, a teacher should
provide some contextualization related to Zimbabwe’s history and contemporary
contestation over land access.
Recommended audiences: Social Sciences, Natural Sciences, undergraduate,
graduate
GLOBAL LINKS: CURSE OF THE TROPICS, 1987
30 minutes in English
Director: Jamie Martin Escobal
Distributor: World Bank Electronic Media Products and
Services
Price: $14.95 (purchase)
Discussion guide: no
Synopsis: Global Links: Curse of the Tropics
looks at the effects of Onchocerciasis, or river blindness, on the people of
the Volta River Valley in West Africa. The film discusses how clean water and
health relate to national development as well as productivity.
Critique: Global Links: The Curse of the Tropics
argues that it is imperative for development planners to understand the dangers
of tropical disease. A strong case is
made for the need to confront the destructive impact of river blindness, spread
by the black fly. In making its case,
the film clearly explains what the disease is, how it is spread and the
progress that has been made in fighting it.
The film does have a few weaknesses. The people impacted
by the diseases and described in the film are not interviewed, and appear as
part of the background in which the film is set. The film also tends to romanticize, and victimize, those impacted
by tropical disease. The narrator, for
instance, explains that life in Africa is “very simple. ” Indigenous people are
represented as if they are victimized by the environment, and although
successful solutions to these diseases are described, such as the use of
insecticides to eradicate the black fly, these solutions come from, and are
implemented by, individuals from outside.
Finally, the film does not tell the viewer what country or city is being
filmed, and so the tropical zone seems to be a seamless stretch of landscape.
Recommended audience: Social Sciences, Natural Sciences, undergraduate,
graduate
GLOBAL LINKS: WOMEN IN THE THIRD WORLD, 1987
28 minutes in English
Director:
Distributor:
World Bank Electronic Media Products and Services
Price: $14.95
Discussion guide: no
Synopsis: This video is useful as an introduction to
the subject of Third World women by studying women from West Africa, Bolivia,
Thailand, and the Caribbean. In these countries, the obstacles to improvement
in women's situation are similar. The worldwide deprivation of female education,
interconnected with structurally sexist laws and customs, work to the
disadvantage of women. In many of these countries, the great majority of the
agricultural work is done by women, even though development programs do not
include them. The video also provides worldwide statistics: women constitute
one‑half of the population, do two‑thirds of the work, earn one‑tenth
of the income, but own only one percent of the property.
Critique:
The AMP was unable to view this film for critique.
Recommended audience: Natural
Sciences, Social Sciences, undergraduate, graduate
GUARDIAN OF AFRICA: THE TSETSE FLY, 1993
45 minutes in English
Producer: Bruno Sorrentino
Distributor: Films for the Humanities and Sciences
Price: $149.00 (purchase), $75.00 (rental)
Discussion guide: no
Synopsis: Guardian of Africa: The Tsetse Fly
deals with the harsh social and environmental realities confronting individuals
and communities in tsetse fly infested areas of Kenya. The film tells the story of how the deadly
fly threatens the livelihoods of two families in rural Kenya: a Maasi Family in
the semi-arid Rift Valley of south-central Kenya and a Luo family from the Lake
Victoria area of western Kenya.
Critique: Guardian of Africa: The Tsetse Fly
forcefully illustrates the stark choices that individuals, families and
communities must make for economic survival.
The film chronicles the threat the tsetse fly poses to the nomadic way
of life. Particularly poignant is the
story of the Maasi family, who must choose between remaining in arid, grass
less areas free of flies where the cattle find little to eat, or moving into
the lush forest, infested by the tsetse flies whose deadly bites might
exterminate an entire herd of cattle.
The video is a bit too long, but a more urgent criticism
deals with the primary focus accorded the white, ex-patriot veterinarian, Dr.
P. Stevenson, in the film. As an
individual and a professional, he provided an invaluable service to the
community, but the film presents him as the voice of authority and
science. One particularly problematic
moment occurs when Dr. Stevenson’s African assistant, who remains nameless in
the film, draws blood from a cow, without gloves. The doctor, who simply watches the procedure, on the other hand,
is protected with gloves.
Recommended audiences: Natural
Sciences, Social Sciences, graduate, undergraduate
GUELWAAR,
1993
115 minutes in French and Wolof with English subtitles
Director: Ousmane Sembene
Distributor: New Yorker Films
Price: $200.00 - $400.00 (rental of 16mm or 35mm film)
Discussion guide: no
Synopsis: A comic portrayal of contemporary Africa
where a Christian man is mistakenly buried in a Muslim cemetery. The resulting conflict between the two
religious communities follows. In the
end, there is an indictment of two evils: indigenous African corruption and
neocolonial Western aid.
Critique:
The AMP was unable to review this film for critique.
Recommended audience: Humanities, Social Sciences, undergraduate, graduate
GUERRA DA AGUA
(A Water War), 1995
70 minutes in Portuguese with English subtitles
Director: Licinio Azevedo
Distributor: Television for the Environment
Price: $70.00 (purchase)
Discussion guide: no
Synopsis: In the heart of drought-prone Mozambique,
10,000 people are surviving on water from just four boreholes. Lucinio Azevedo’s memorable film chronicles
the tragi-comic dramas involved in the daily scramble for water in rural
community.
Critique: The AMP was unable to view this film for
critique.
Recommended audience: Humanities,
Social Sciences, Natural Sciences, undergraduate, graduate
HANDS UP FOR THE ENVIRONMENT AND THE MARKET, 1993
21 minutes in English
Director: Paulo Ducassa
Distributor: Television for the Environment
Price: $70.00 (purchase)
Discussion guide: no
Synopsis:
This video documents the Nigerian Conservation Foundation’s workshop that
created “The Market” which was the first episode of a weekly puppet show on
Nigerian television portraying the adverse effects of deforestation on the
everyday lives of Nigerians.
Critique:
The AMP was unable to view this film for critique.
Recommended audience: Social Sciences, Humanities, undergraduate, graduate
HARVEST: 3000 YEARS, 1975
150 minutes in Amharic with English subtitles
Director: Haile Gerima
Distributor: Mypheduh Films
Price: $34.99 (purchase for individuals), $300.00
(purchase for universities)
Discussion guide: no
Synopsis: Harvest: 3000 Years is a
dramatization of a peasant family's struggle for survival on the farm of a
wealthy landowner in Ethiopia.
Critique: In
its depiction of Ethiopian peasant life and the struggle to survive, Harvest:
3000 Years is unique and quite excellent. The use of a fictionalized,
ethnographic style allows the audience to become involved with the family
portrayed and to understand their needs and aspirations. Though the filmmaker
espouses a specific political view‑ point, this viewpoint does not affect
the accuracy of the lifestyle presented. The photography combines with a slowly
paced editing style to reflect the centuries of long struggle expressed by the
title. As mentioned above, some background information may be necessary for
certain audiences, but viewed strictly as cinema, the film is complete and
powerful.
Recommended audience: Humanities,
Social Sciences, undergraduate, graduate
HEALERS OF GHANA, 1993
58 minutes in English and Twi with English voice over
Director: J. Scott Dodds
Distributor: Films for the Humanities and Sciences
Price: $129.00 (purchase), $75.00 (rental)
Discussion guide: no
Synopsis: Healers of Ghana looks at efforts to
bring traditional healers and Western doctors into contact and argues for the
integration of the two health services.
The film deals primarily with the Akan people of Ghana and includes
interviews with the healers, doctors, a university professor, and individuals
from the World Health Organization.
Critique: Healers of Ghana offers a positive image of traditional medical and
spiritual practices in Ghana and attempts to understand how these practices
function in specific historical and cultural settings among the Akan. Dr. Kofi Opoku, a professor at the
University of Ghana, explains that witch catchers and healers strive to
maintain the physical and mental health of the entire village. The film makes a convincing case for the
integration of traditional and Western practices and highlights a program
funded by the World health Organization called “Primary Health care Training
for Indigenous Healers.” In this
program, Western medical professionals teach indigenous healers about primary
care techniques. One segment of the
film features an interview with a Western doctor who describes the success
traditional healers have had with setting broken bones. He suggests that this is one area where
Western medicine can learn from indigenous healers.
One of the weaknesses of the film is that although an
argument is made for integration among providers of health care, Western
medicine is presented as the most valid approach.
Recommended audience: Natural
Sciences, Social Sciences, undergraduate, graduate
HUNGRY FOR PROFIT
85 minutes
Director: Robert Richter
Distributor: PBS
Price: (information unavailable)
Discussion guide: no
Synopsis: This film depicts the failure of the "Green
Revolution" in several Third World countries and the consequent
devastating effects of agribusiness. Agribusinesses, depicted in the film as
the collaboration between local Third World governments and First World
companies, violently remove local farmers, ruin the soil, and therefore have a
direct negative influence on hunger in the Third World by completely ignoring
the growth of food crops and the nutrition of local people. These events also
lead to increased migration from rural to urban areas, and to spiraling urban
overcrowding and further underemployment.
Critique:
The AMP was unable to view this film for critique.
Recommended audience: Natural Sciences, Social Sciences, undergraduate,
graduate
LIVING WITH DROUGHT, 1995
49 minutes
Producer: Eleanor Morris
Distributor: Television for the Environment
Price: $70.00 (purchase)
Discussion guide: no
Synopsis: Living with Drought examines how
rural communities in Niger and Kenya are responding to the severe changes
wrought in their environment by climate change, poverty and population
pressures. Soil and water conservation
projects - such as stone terracing and tree wind-breaks - have helped improve
crop yields by as much as 25 percent in some cases.
Critique: Living
with Drought presents an in-depth analysis of micro-level initiatives in
conservation and sustainable agriculture in semi-arid areas of Africa. The film does a fine job explaining the
technical aspects of erosion and control and reforestation. It neither exaggerates nor minimizes the
problems associated with conservation and demonstrates how local groups and
international organizations can collaborate to confront environmental
difficulties. The importance of
community participation and support in all levels of planning for and
implementation of conservation initiatives is stressed.
The film’s primary weakness lies in what it does not
discuss. For example, the film does not
assess the impact of commercial agriculture on land degradation and water
resource management, and there is no discussion of the role of globalization in
environmental degradation.
Recommended audience: Social Sciences, Natural Sciences, undergraduate,
graduate
LOSING THE LAND,
1996
52 minutes
Director: Ole Gjerstad
Distributor: International Development Research Centre
Price: $19.95 (purchase)
Discussion guide: no
Synopsis: This
film focuses on the diminishing nomadic lifestyle of the Masai of Kenya. Modern pressures of the need to “develop”
have caused the Masai to adopt sedentary lifestyles, migrate to Nairobi, or
struggle with land ownership issues.
Critique:
The AMP was unable to review this film for critique.
Recommended audience: Social Sciences, Humanities, undergraduate, graduate
MAN‑MADE FAMINE, 1986
57 minutes
Director: Chris Sheppard and Claude Savaugeot
Distributor: IDERA
Price: $150.00 (purchase), $50.00 (rental)
Discussion guide: no
Synopsis: Man‑Made Famine examines some of the reasons for famine in
Africa. This film particularly looks at
the role of women in food production through the stories of women from Kenya,
Zimbabwe and Burkina Faso, and questions the male bias of most agricultural
development projects.
Critique:This
film identifies the causes of famine in Africa. First, women do not have enough
time for subsistence crop production, as they are the major food producers in
Africa and also have responsibilities for domestic work (in which men do not
share responsibility). Second, the increase in cash crops works to the
detriment of women, by denying them access to land and increasing their labor‑intensive
work. Third, male migration causes women to change their production regimens,
thereby making it difficult for them to maintain levels of productivity.
Fourth, women do not control land or the factors of production, so their
ability to produce food crops is impeded. The movie also faults development
agencies and backs up its position with statistics; for example, although
African women perform up to 80 percent of Africa's agriculture, only 0.5
percent of all agricultural aid goes to women. The film ends in an optimistic
note by showing how women in Zimbabwe are organizing to affect change in their
lives.
Recommended audience: Social Sciences, undergraduate, graduate
NIGERIA: A SQUANDERING OF RICHES, 1984
50 minutes in English
Production Company: BBC
Distributor: Pennsylvania State University, Audio
Visual Services
Price: $36.00 (rental for 3 days)
Synopsis: Nigeria: A Squandering of Riches is a
documentary that explores the situation in Nigeria prior to the military coup
of December 1983. Onyeka Onwenu, a
Nigerian journalist, interviews bankers, street traders, and farmers about the
rising dissatisfaction with the economy and government.
Critique:
The AMP was unable to view this film for critique.
Recommended audience: Social
Sciences, undergraduate, graduate
ONCE THERE WAS A FOREST, 1989
57 minutes in English and Swahili
Director: Lars Brydesen
Distributor: (information unavailable)
Price: (information unavailable)
Discussion guide: no
Synopsis: The film, Once There Was A Forest,
shows a balanced historical analysis of the agricultural problems facing an
East African community of the Usambara region of Tanzania. It shows the efforts
of this community to restore a once preserved habitat which is now destroyed
through deforestation instituted by German colonialists prior to Tanzanian
independence.
Critique: Once There Was A Forest is the
salutary story of the exploitation of
the Usambara Mountains, which tower 2,5000 meters over the Masai plains
in northeastern Tanzania, and the
efforts the Tanzanians themselves are now making to re‑establish
them. Sambaa farmers, who built their
villagers high up the mountain sides, observed clearly defined rules when
cultivating their forest gardens. They
never used fire to clear the forest, never cut living trees, never weeded their
crops but spread the debris from plants on the ground to rot, forming a rich
biomass to fertilize the soil. They
built up their fields in layers, exploiting every available space; banana palms
grew in the shade of trees that fixed the mitogen in the ground, and cassava,
fruit bushed, beans ‑ up to 30 different plant species ‑ were
cultivated in strips beside them. The
water that flowed through their gardens was crystal clear: little of the soil
was carried away by the rivers, and few of the nutrients were leached from the
system.
But, with European colonization, the whole pattern of
Sambaa cultivation fell into decay. In
one interview, Kihobo, an old man who claims to be 115, recalls the arrival of
white men, come to spread the word of God ‑ and how the Sambaa themselves
regretted them with deep suspicion because they had no wives. The local king directed the white
missionaries to a plot of land under a great tree, inhabited by evil spirits,
to build their first church. Tree and
church still stand today, the old man remarks, but the demons in the tree have
fallen silent.
Even after Tanzania gained its independence in 1961,
the forests continued to disappear. The
Tanzanians had watched their white masters grow rich from selling their trees,
and they thought that they would be rich in their turn, imitating them. Up to four hectares of land was given, free,
to prospective new farmers. Within two
years over 13,000 hectares of forest was burnt off. At first the new land was incredibly fertile. Farmers sowed maize, which grew fast and
provided good yields. Maize became the
dominant crop, with golden maize stalks stretching as far as the eye could
see. But the farmers gave the land no
time to rest, and within 10 years the forest soil was exhausted. The rains carried the fertile topsoil down
into the valleys below, and wind and rain began to turn the mountain sides into
a barren moonscape.
But not, again, the film argues. There is optimism among the Sambaa. No‑one believes in monoculture any
longer. There is a revival of
traditional African methods of agriculture: trees are being planted and
agroforestry encouraged. Over 100 trees
nurseries have been put up to supply young trees, and in six months 10,000
trees will be ready to distribute, free, to farmers in the highlands. Soil is still being ruined in the Usambara
Mountains, and the population is increasing faster than ever. It's race against time ‑‑ but
once again trees are respected and revered by the people.
(Critique adapted from Moving Pictures Bulletin's
Catalog)
Recommended audience: Social Sciences, Natural Sciences, undergraduate,
graduate
PARKS OR PEOPLE,
1991
39 minutes in English
Director: Damien Lewis
Distributor: Television for the Environment
Price: $70.00 (purchase)
Discussion guide: no
Synopsis: This film provides case studies of two rain
forest conservation projects in Cameroon.
The International Council for Bird Preservation project in the Korup
National Park utilized local expertise and was small scale. While the World Wild Fund for Nature project
in the Kilum Mountain Forest initially moved people out of the forest to
implement its large scale plan.
Critique: The AMP was unable to review this film for critique.
Recommended audience: Social
Sciences, Natural Sciences, undergraduate, graduate
PHYSICAL GEOGRAPHY OF THE CONTINENTS: AFRICA, 1991
27 minutes in English
Producer: National Geographic Society’s Television
Division
Distributor: National Geographic Society
Price: (information unavailable)
Discussion guide: yes
Synopsis: Physical Geography of the Continents:
Africa offers a straightforward summary of the physical and vegetational
geography of Africa.
Critique: Physical Geography of the Continents:
Africa covers an immense amount of material about the physical geography of
African in the length of this short film.
It provides for an appreciation of the geographical diversity of the
continent through breathtaking scenes of the physical landscape. The film is well organized, travailing from
north to south, and includes effective maps and graphs.
The film has a few weaknesses. It aims to cover a vast amount of material
in a short time, and consequently leaves one with the impression that the African
environment consists of a series of isolated situations. Additionally, the film virtually ignores
human populations, and when human beings are discussed in relation to the
environment, they are represented as threats.
For instance, the film argues that “human activity” threatens the
existence of “unique animals,” and slash and burn agriculture is blamed for
clearing the savannah of trees and wildlife.
These propositions, presented through an authoritative narrative voice,
are offered as facts with little discussion of other theories on the causes of
environmental degradation. Finally, the
film fails to situate the spectator in an exact location in Africa. An instructor who uses the film might want
to show students a map of the continent and point out the countries and cities
the film describes.
Recommended audience: Natural Sciences, Social Sciences, undergraduate,
graduate
PLAGUE UPON THE LAND, 1973
28 minutes in English
Producer: The World Bank
Distributor: United Nations Division of Public Affairs
Price: (information unavailable)
Discussion guide: no
Synopsis: The film presents a study of river
blindness, its effects on communities along the Volta River, and efforts to
eliminate the disease.
Critique: Though one of the main purposes of this film
is to discuss the efforts of international organizations such as the World Bank
to eradicate river blindness, the film also touches briefly on other aspects of
the disease: historical and geographic location, social and economic impact
upon the villages, and cause, symptom, and treatment. The use of interviews
with expert witnesses gives the film added credibility. For advanced level
courses, many of the topics such as resettlement of villages and ecological
problems caused by spraying insecticides should be more thoroughly discussed;
however, as a whole the film is sound technically and thematically and is
recommended.
Recommended audience: Natural
Sciences, Social Sciences, undergraduate, graduate
POLITICS DO NOT A BANQUET MAKE, 1997
52 minutes in
English
Director: Maarten Schmidt and Thomas Doebele
Distributor: First Run/Icarus Films
Price: $390.00 (purchase), $75.00 (rental)
Discussion guide: no
Synopsis: Politics Do Not a Banquet Make explores the theme stated by a former soldier, “You
can’t eat politics like you can eat bread.”
The film uses interviews with a wide variety of individuals from Tigray,
Ethiopia to investigate the relationships among war, politics and hunger.
Critique: Politics Do Not a Banquet Make
provides audiences with a wide array of perspectives on issues of politics and
survival in post-revolutionary Ethiopia, including men and women, peasant
farmers, urban, un-employed workers, former soldiers, business elites,
government officials, Meles Zenawi, the current prime minister, and a leading
newspaper editor. The film accurately
portrays rural life in Tigray and illustrates that rural people are setting
their own priorities. The video celebrates
the tremendous strength of Ethiopians without romanticizing them.
One small criticism of the film is that it is too long
and might be difficult to use in an undergraduate classroom. The focus of the film is limited; it is centered on Tigray, the home of the
current Ethiopian leadership, and although many critiques of the current
government are included, the film adopts a position supportive of the Zenawi
regime. An instructor might want to
supplement the film with background material on the transition of power in
Ethiopia.
Recommended Audience: Social
Sciences, Humanities, undergraduate, graduate
THE POVERTY COMPLEX, 1992
24 minutes in English
Producer: Patti Langton
Distributor: The Media Guild
Price: $245.00 (purchase)
Discussion guide: yes
Synopsis: The Poverty Complex is one film in
The Third World Development Series. The
film examines all sides of poverty and explores the underlying causes and
potential solutions.
Critique: The Poverty Complex offers a concise
and direct look at hunger and poverty.
The film addresses how famine, structural adjustment policies, debt
repayment, low commodity prices, historical and cultural factors, local
conditions, the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund impact the lives
of people in Sudan, Chad, India, Bangladesh, the United States, and Brazil. The film features shots from Africa, but
also effectively examines poverty from an international perspective. It does a fine job critiquing media
presentations of poverty and argues effectively for the need to distinguish
between famine and poverty.
The broad scope of the film prevents it from exploring
poverty and famine in detail.
Therefore, the film fails to provide adequate explanation of issues such
as structural adjustment, and debt and commodity pricing. The film is highly critical of the World
Bank and World Bank policy; yet, it lacks careful explanation of what the Bank
is and how it operates.
Recommended audience: Natural
Sciences, Social Sciences, undergraduate, graduate
PREVINOBA AND PARTICIPATIVE APPROACH TO RURAL FOREST, 1994
36 minutes in French with English subtitles
Director: Huub Ruijgrok
Distributor: Television for the Environment
Price: $70.00 (purchase)
Discussion guide: no
Synopsis: This film looks at the large areas of
Senegal that are suffering from desertification and the encroaching desert. The effect of these environmental changes on
the inhabitants of these areas and their livestock is also examined.
Critique: The AMP was unable to view this film for
critique.
Recommended audience: Natural
Sciences, Social Sciences, undergraduate, graduate
PRAYING FOR RAIN, 1993
54 minutes in English
Director: Sharon Sopher
Distributor: Development through Self-Reliance
Price: $59.00 (purchase)
Discussion guide: no
Synopsis: Praying for Rain documents the terrible drought that hit Zimbabwe in
1992.
Critique: Praying for Rain demonstrates how Zimbabweans worked together to avoid
starvation, and subsequently, the country became the first in Africa to survive
a lengthy drought without relying heavily on foreign assistance. The video shows how the government financed
successful food‑for‑work projects and established a distribution
system that reached over half of the population.
Praying for Rain examines the effects of the drought on wildlife and cattle herds and
discusses the government's policy of culling animals. Farmers and ranchers also describe the hardships that they
suffered when their cattle herds were decimated. Overall, Praying for Rain offers perspectives of the
drought from Zimbabweans who lived through it.
Recommended audience: Social
Sciences, Natural Sciences, undergraduate, graduate
QUAND LES ETOILES RENCONTRENT LA MER (When the Stars Meet the Sea), 1996
85 minutes In French and Malagasy with English
subtitles
Director: Raymond Rajaonarivelo
Distributor: California Newsreel
Price: $195.00 (purchase), $95.00 (rental)
Discussion guide: no
Synopsis: This tale follows the journey of Kapila, a
young boy whose birth is cursed by the time of his birth. He is born during a solar eclipse which
dictates that he will possess destructive power in the Merina belief
system. His mother dies at childbirth
and he is taken in and raised by a childless woman. As a young man, he sets out on a quest to find himself and is
eventually able to change his fate.
Critique: Raymond Rajaonarivelo follows his epic first
film on the Malagasy liberation struggle, Taba Taba, with a very different,
poetic film exploring the relationship between traditional and modern concepts
of human freedom. He writes: "In French magic and image are made from the
same letters... In this film, there will be Magic as long as man is dependent
on mysterious forces that overwhelm him, and Image when man has acquired enough
power over space, time, and himself to no longer be afraid of his life."
As the title suggests, Rajaonarivelo frames his film
around three visual symbols or leit motifs, sky, sea and, by implication, the
land marooned between them or life between birth and death. Set among the
island's high mesas, all the major characters dream of escaping this parched
interior to return to the oceanic mother, Rano Masina or "sacred
water" in Malagasy. Rajaonarivelo characterizes life in the arid
highlands, whether in the superstitious village or the corrupt city, as
unremittingly predatory. A recurrent dream of a gently breaking surf turning
into pounding cattle hooves symbolizes the human tension between infinite and
earthbound.
Destiny or vintana plays a key role in the belief
system of the Merina people of these high plateaus. The day and month of a
child's birth are believed to determine its fate; a child born during a solar
eclipse, a liminal time when sun and moon are at war, is believed to possess
especially destructive powers. Tradition demands that its father must place it
in a cattle pen where it will be trampled to death.
The hero of this film is such a child; his mother died
in childbirth but he is rescued from his fate by a young, childless woman and
named Kapila, "the lame one," because of an injury he suffered in the
corral. He grows into a kind but frightened young man, in effect, a stowaway in
life, who supposedly can only bring evil on those around him. His adoptive
mother weaves the shrouds in which the Malagasy bury, exhume and then rebury
their ancestors and Kapila wears one until his ultimate liberation.
Parallel to his protective adopted mother, Kapila
encounters at key moments a wrathful, blind old woman, who taunts him that he
cannot avoid his destructive destiny and gives him a staff of vengeance. She
may be a bilo, a dead spirit possessing Kapila's body, or the ghost of one of
his ancestors (perhaps his dead mother) or just a mpaamosavy or sorceress. No
doubt, she also represents a repressed part of Kapila's psyche, a shadow self,
enraged that society has stigmatized him as the source of calamity.
As in any quest narrative, Kapila must embark on a
journey to discover his true identity and purpose in life. Rajaonarivelo's
crippled hero has resonances with other myths, most obviously Sundjata and
Oedipus. Kapila leaves his mother and flies on the wings of a hawk over a vast
wasteland to his natal village. There he confronts his father, The Poet, a
madman who believes he can fly away from human cruelty and his own guilt. He
tells his son: "Nature is as beautiful as a woman yet she has something
against us; she inhabits us and forces us to do things we find revolting. Your
powers too are only an instrument of her will."
The villagers, led by a hypocritical Christian priest
and a traditional diviner, hunt Kapila like an animal. He survives again
through the love of another young woman, Fara, a beautiful, fair‑skinned
métisse, an outsider marked by difference like himself. Disgusted with the
cycle of hate, Kapila climbs the mountain of the ancestors, of tradition, and
throws away the sorceress' cane, the source of his magical powers. This
unintentionally unleashes a purifying deluge which destroys the village.
In thus repudiating his destiny Kapila has ironically
fulfilled it. His and Fara's love and commitment to living literally and
symbolically annihilate the old cycle of destiny; the villagers by clinging to
their belief in destiny insure that it comes true. In the closing sequence
reprising the opening, Kapila's father again tries to kill his son by
stampeding the cattle, but when they see Kapila embracing Fara they turn upon
his father trampling him to death. As he wished, he is cremated in the same
corral where Kapila was wounded, freed at last to rejoin the wind and the
stars.
In the film's final shot, Kapila and a visibly
pregnant Fara at last stand on the shore, the threshold between land and water
and between destiny and desire, the place where the stars and the sea meet.
Kapila has paradoxically discovered his own identity only by rejecting his
connections with his past ‑ his adoptive mother, his father, even his
ancestral homeland. His destiny has, in a sense, been to break free of destiny.
He and Fara, outsiders joined by love not custom, have given birth to a new
world governed not by magic and fate but by love and imagination.
(From California Newsreel distributor information.)
Recommended audience: Humanities,
Social Sciences, undergraduate, graduate
RABI, 1992
61 minutes in More with English subtitles
Director: Gaston Kabore
Distributor: Bullfrog Films
Price: $150.00 (purchase), $75.00 (rental)
Discussion guide: no
Synopsis: Rabi is a modern day fable using
traditional African story-telling techniques.
The film is a gentle, enigmatic exploration of the relationships that
Rabi builds with his father, his grandfather, his tortoise, and his own conscience.
Critique: Rabi tells the story of a young boy
who, through the guidance of an old man, Old Pusga, learns to respect
nature. The film successfully explores
environmental and conservation themes in a rural African setting. Rabi's father is a blacksmith, and he
complains about the scarcity of charcoal due to the diminishing forests. One section of the film features a
conversation between Rabi and the personified tortoise, and the tortoise
conveys a vital message about the harsh treatment of poachers.
Although the ecological content is useful, the film
takes a long while to broach the topic of deforestation. Until then, the film focuses mainly on
Rabi's interactions with the tortoise and Old Pusga. The translations are, at points, incomplete, and the film fails
to locate its narrative within a specific country and village. Despite these weakness, Rabi is a good film
that might be useful in an Ecology or Environmental Studies classroom.
Recommended audience: Humanities, Social Sciences, Natural Sciences,
undergraduate
RACE TO SAVE THE PLANET, 1990
10 one-hour programs in English
Producer: John Angier and Carol L. Dornbrand for WGBH
Science Unit et al.
Distributor: Annenberg/CPB Projects
Price: $39.00 (purchase single videocassettes),
$169.00 (purchase whole set)
Discussion guide: yes, available for purchase
Synopsis: A ten-part television production that looks
at environmental problems across the globe.
Part one of the series, The Environmental Revolution focuses on the San
in Botswana documenting their dependence and harmony with the environment. Part ten, Now or Never, illustrates the
efforts of individuals to affect positive change for the future of the
environment with focus on the Greenpeace Movement in Kenya.
Critique: The AMP was unable to review these films for
critique.
Recommended audience: Natural
Sciences, Social Sciences, undergraduate, graduate
RAIN SONG (part of The Lost World of the Kalahari
series), 1991
28 minutes in English voice-over
Director: Nicholas Claxton
Distributor: Films for the Humanities and Sciences
Price: $89.00 (purchase)
Distributor guide: no
Synopsis: This film is part of a six-part ethnographic
series on the Khoi-San peoples produced by Laurens van der Post. Rain Song focuses on two themes: the
coming of the annual rains to the Kalahari, and the courtship rituals among the
Khoi-San
Critique: The only strength of Rain Song is its
representation of mid-century ethnographic representation of the Khoi-San. The film relies on gross stereotypical
representations of the Khoi-San in their “timeless” and essentialized
existence. This pristine way of life,
predictably, is threatened by Western “civilization.”
Recommended audience: Social
Sciences, Humanities, undergraduate, graduate
RIVERS OF SAND,
1991
53 minutes
Director: Bruno Sorrentino
Distributor: Television for the Environment
Price: $70.00 (purchase)
Distributor guide: no
Synopsis: In Bruno Sorrentino’s award-winning
documentary, three aid projects compete against a deteriorating environment in
Northern Mali, the inner delta and lake district of the great River Niger. Lake Fagubine, once the biggest lake in West
Africa, is now a dried-out plain. But
one man has a dream to bring the waters flooding back into the lake, and so
bring back the 60,000 environmental refugees who abandoned their homes during
the great drought.
Critique: Rivers of Sand deals realistically
with myriad problems confronting rural communities in the Sahel region related
to drought, desertification, social dislocation, and ethnic conflict. The film provides the opportunity to hear a
diversity of local perspectives, including a marginalized group of women and
uses these narratives effectively to maintain viewer’s interest. Rivers of Sand clearly supports the
idea of strong local participation in projects aimed at ameliorating the impact
of drought and desertification.
One of the main weakness of the film is that it is too
long, especially for use in an undergraduate classroom. The film also fails to include a historical
explanation for the environmental problems it describes nor does it devote much
time to a discussion of the social consequences of drought and desertification.
Recommended audience: Natural
Sciences, Social Sciences, undergraduate, graduate
ROOTS OF HUNGER, ROOTS OF CHANGE, 1985
27 minutes in English
Director: David Springbett
Distributor:
Church World Service Film and Video Library
Price: $0 (available for loan)
Discussion guide: no
Synopsis: Roots of Hunger, Roots of Change is a
half hour film that lays bare crucial issues of Third World development in the
context of a single case.
Critique: The film provides a close‑up
examination of a Church World Service local development project in rural
Senegal in a way that invites the viewer to experience the complex
interrelationships of environment, history, politics and economics in framing
the problems experienced by contemporary Senegalese farmers. Without ever
losing its focus on the day‑to‑day experience of men and women
living with drought and poverty, the film insists that we attend to the complex
historical factors of French colonial expansion, the introduction of peanut
farming and the transformation of a subsistence economy into a cash economy as
the roots of current rural impoverishment. In a firm and economical narrative,
accompanied by maps and old photographs and prints, the film argues that the
devastating local effects of the current drought are not a natural disaster,
but rather the product of political and economic arrangements of a dependent
economy.
In the context of this explanatory framework, the film
tells the story in the words and through the images of Senegalese men and
women. The film focuses on a small number of rural families, and their efforts to
survive in the arid countryside. Without romanticizing poverty or struggle, the
film makers convey some of the matter‑of‑fact determination and
spirit of the Senegalese who remain in the arid countryside, as well as their
ties to family members struggling to accumulate some cash in the "informal
economy" of an overcrowded Dakar. The film is consistently effective and
economical in presenting concrete images of complex problems. Rural women are
involved in day long and consistent labor drawing water from brackish wells,
while the water of a nearby lake is polluted and unavailable to these rural
Senegalese as it flows toward Dakar to be purified, at great cost, and provide
for the needs of urban dwellers.
The film is not without flaws. There is a tendency, at
times, for the narrator's voice to lead the viewer away from the message of the
visual images. The logic of the documentary's labeling of events and issues
concludes when it might question. Yes, the rural Senegalese are impressively
plucky and optimistic as they dig their wells, but some of their laughter seems
to arise from the fact that a camera crew is recording their activity. Overall,
though, this film is very impressive in its clarity and directness. Its
insistence on presenting a complex set of issues and causes, without slighting
individual actors, and its ability to confront us with the more long‑term
manifestations of the Sahellan drought, as problems that demand our attention
make this a valuable film for stimulating discussion in introductory and more
specialized classes on development. Hopefully, students will identify with the
young Church World Service project director who works with local people to
address the pieces of the problem that can be ameliorated at the local level.
What is equally valuable is the film's insistence on the broader claim that
only when we are willing to search out the roots of a problem can we explore
the roots of change. The film has a clear and useful point of view which
provides a framework for exploring the source of many Third World problems.
Recommended audience: Natural
Sciences, Social Sciences, undergraduate, graduate
SANGO MALO
(The Village Teacher), 1991
94 minutes in French with English subtitles
Director: Bassek ba Kobhio
Distributor: California Newsreel
Price: $195.00 (purchase), $95.00 (rental)
Discussion guide: no
Synopsis: Through the use of a popular theme in
African cinema, traditional versus modern, filmmaker ba Kobhio tells the story
of a young school teacher who brings new ideas to the village where he
works. The villagers come to embrace
Malo but eventually they reject his ideas when he attempts to introduce change
too quickly. In the end, he has a
positive impact on the village as the villages takes ownership in their own
development.
Critique: Sango Malo offers American viewers an
intimate and engaging portrait of the complex social dynamic underlying
economic and political change in a typical African village. It argues
passionately that a populist education must be a key component of any
democratic, human‑centered development paradigm for Africa. Bassek ba
Kobhio explains why his first feature focuses on education: "It is
education which can form a new people...It is hard to think about changing
African society without envisioning an appropriate form of education."
Sango Malo
contrasts two views of education. The traditional headmaster represents a
rigid, "Eurocentric" curriculum designed to produce docile colonial
administrators. Malo, the radical young teacher, emphasizes the practical
skills needed to build a self‑reliant rural community. The film
illustrates Brazilian educator Paolo Freire's celebrated distinction between an
education which the ruling class uses to inculcate its values in students'
minds and one which empowers students to shape their own destiny.
Malo's innovative ideas soon spread to the rest of the
village. With his help, the peasants establish a cooperative store and a cocoa
marketing cooperative which undercut the power of the village chief, store
owner and priest. When Malo alienates the villagers by demanding too rapid
change, his enemies call in the army which arrests and imprisons him.
But Malo has taught his lessons so well the villagers
can carry on his reforms without him. In the last, open‑ended shot, the
camera discretely pulls back as the peasants celebrate a future they themselves
will make. The narrative thrust, the responsibility for development, no longer
lies with the village elite, nor the progressive schoolmaster, nor even the
socially‑engaged filmmaker,but has passed to the peasants themselves and
to the African audiences viewing the film.
Recommended audience: Humanities,
Social Sciences, undergraduate, graduate
SEASON OF HOPE
33 minutes in English and Afrikaans with English
subtitles
Director: Laurence Dworkin
Distributor: (information unavailable)
Price: (information unavailable)
Discussion guide: no
Synopsis: Season of Hope demonstrates through
contemporary and historic video footage and personal interviews the impact of
sever racial discrimination on the environment, The film examines land
degradation and desertification in four rural South African communities.
Critique: Season of Hope is a short film that offers a
thorough demonstration of the impact of racist land and labor policies on land
degradation and desertification in four rural communities in South Africa. The film provides a good technical
analysis and explanation of
desertification and explores potential interventions, allowing for a diversity
of impacted “voices” in a non-threatening and unobtrusive manner. Perhaps the only problem with the film is
that it is often dense and may therefore be difficult to use in an
undergraduate classroom. In order to
deal with this, an instructor could provide students with background
information on the environmental heritage of centuries of racial discrimination
followed by fifty years of apartheid in South Africa.
Recommended audience: Natural Sciences, Social
Sciences, graduate
SEX, LEMURS AND HOLES IN THE SKY, 1992
52 minutes in English
Director: Lawrence Moore
Distributor:THA Media
Price: Canadian $199.00 (purchase)
Discussion guide: no
Synopsis: Sex, Lemurs and Holes in the Sky is a
serious exploration of the linked issues of population, consumption, poverty
and the environment. The film contrasts
the lifestyles of two families on two very different islands: Madagascar and Manhattan.
Critique: Sex, Lemurs and Holes in the Sky juxtaposes the cultures of Madagascar and Manhattan,
and is one of few films that examines the consumption patterns of the
industrial world in relation to the role of poverty in consumption and
reproduction in the developing world.
The film follows a family from Madagascar and a family from Manhattan to
highlight the stark differences in consumption habits and reproductive
practices between the two cultures. Cross-cutting between the two families
emphasizes the cultural specificity of the environmental problems of each place
and suggests that both the developed and developing world affect the global environment.
The film presents an important idea effectively:
environmental problems are global problems to which both the industrial and
developing worlds contribute. However,
in its discussion of Madagascar, Sex, Lemurs and Holes in the Sky adopts
a Malthusian approach to environmental problems, attributing environmental
destruction to poor farmers who employ burning techniques to clear the
land. The film excludes an examination
of how the history of forced migration and slavery and contemporary land privatization
and structural adjustment programs have impacted the environment
negatively. Furthermore, farming is
described inappropriately as a male activity.
Despite these criticisms, this film could be a useful
tool in the classroom. An instructor
should highlight the film’s weaknesses and offer an explanation of how distinct
groups interact differently with the environment. Discussion of the film should also explore the historical context
out of which environmental problems emerge and examine the global economic
links to deforestation in Madagascar.
Recommended audience: Natural
Sciences, Social Sciences, undergraduate, graduate
SIDET
(Forced Exile), 1991
60 minutes
Director: Salem Mekuria
Distributor: Women Make Movies
Price: $295.00 (purchase), $75.00 (rental)
Discussion guide: no
Synopsis: Salem Mekuria, an Ethiopian living in the
United States, explores the impact of civil war in Ethiopia, Somalia, and Sudan
and what happens to people in exile. This film illustrates the lives of three
women in Sudan struggling to create a life in exile. This film illustrates the ways in which the tradition of refugee
aid has perpetuated near‑death conditions and initiated projects that are
meaningless. It concludes with the question, "Is it possible to get beyond
the crippling concept of handouts to reach the able and the willing so they can
help themselves while they wait to return?"
Critique: The AMP was unable to review this film for
critique.
Recommended audience: Social
Sciences, Humanities, undergraduate, graduate
SOUTH AFRICA: THE WASTED LAND, 1990
52 minutes
Director: Jamie Hartzell
Distributor: Filmakers Library
Price: $445.00 (purchase), $75.00 (rental)
Discussion guide: no
Synopsis: South Africa: The Wasted Land deals
with the relationship between apartheid and environmental degradation. The film
is structured in two parts. The first
concentrates on rural conditions and erosion caused by overcrowding. The second part shifts emphasis to problems
of industrial pollution and toxic waste.
Critique: In South Africa: The Wasted Land
white South African experts interviewed (economist Professor Francis Wilson,
environmental journalist Eddie Koch, and rural development activist Richard
Clacey) provide the social explanations for environmental decay, while ordinary
black people describe their social experiences, and Dr Mamphele Ramphele the
psycho‑social implications of this condition. The inferior quality of land in the Bantustans must be measured
in terms of population densities, productivity, location, access to farming
technology, as must the displacement of black laborers from white commercial
farms.
South Africa: The Wasted Land lacks a geographical approach in its explanation of
the extent and nature of chemical and toxic waste in South Africa's
cities. Little indication is given of
the extent and location of air pollution and toxic waste. The worst afflicted areas of the Southern
and Eastern Transvaal are not examined. The film shows correctly that the
effects of toxic waste are not confined to black areas, as indicated
sensitively in interviews with white mothers regarding the health problems of
their small children. Causation of the
two different forms of environmental degradation -- overcrowding and industrial
pollution - is attributed by the film to apartheid alone. In fact, degradation occurs in most
countries and in South Africa as elsewhere, has more to do with inadequate
state regulation and uncontrolled development strategies, than with political
ideologies. That the problem of waste
and environmental decay is a systemic problem is underlined by Ramphele who
says at the end of the film that these problems will continue even after
apartheid.
The most powerful images in the film are the devastating
effects of raw asbestos and toxic waste on public health. Chilling shots of
black children playing on mounds of untreated asbestos are shocking, as are
interviews with miners who are dying from lung diseases. Neither the location of these shots is
revealed and nor is the problem of raw asbestos dumps as widespread as
suggested, although processed asbestos continues to be used widely in
construction, furniture, motor and industrial products. The clandestinely filmed interview with a
hostile white farmer shows his tenant farmers' houses being bulldozed, and
portrays the brutality and contradictions of apartheid: "black people can't survive without
white people", he says. Yet the whites continue with their destruction of
black social fabrics.
Overall, the film offers an over‑generalized
review of the relationship between apartheid and environmental
destruction. It lacks geographical,
conceptual and statistical specificity.
For the sake of brevity, and with crude cynical effect, the narrator aggregates
Bantustan governmental conservation strategies, implying that they are all the
same, (mis)managed by a single unidentified `Trust'. This assertion is incorrect as the different Bantustans had
developed specific conservation policies, and some none at all. Differences in
location, climate, soil quality and conservation strategies between the
Bantustans are also ignored. Misleading
statements such as the one that South Africa is one of the world's biggest agricultural
exporters, seriously mar the accuracy of the narration. The statement that black farmers are unpaid
is incorrect. Their pay may be very
low, but it seems that the film was referring to specific sharecroppers, who
are the minority.
(Written by Keyan G Tomaselli and MSU Evaluators, 1990).
Published with M. Eke and V. Khapoya: "South Africa: The Wasted Land", SA Geographical
Journal, 74(1).
Recommended audience: Social
Sciences, Natural Sciences, undergraduate, graduate
SPOILS OF WAR,
1992
53 minutes in English
Director: Toni Strasburg
Distributor: Television for the Environment
Price: $70.00 (purchase)
Discussion guide: no
Synopsis: This documentary looks at the devastating
effects of the 15-year civil war in Mozambique. In particular, the film examines how the war was financed at the
expense of the environment--elephants tusks were sold to South Africa for
arms. Post-war attempts to revive the
tourist industry and implement conservation measures sensitive to the needs of
the people are also documented in the film.
Critique: The AMP was unable to review this film for
critique.
Recommended audience: Social
Sciences, Humanities, Natural Sciences, undergraduate, graduate
TA DONA,
1991
100 minutes in Bambara with English subtitles
Director: Adama Drabo
Distributor:
California Newsreel.
Price: $195.00 (purchase), $95.00 (rental)
Distributors: IDERA
Price: (unavailable)
Discussion guide: no
Synopsis: A young Bambara agricultural expert, while
working in a peasant village, also searches for the seventh canari, a
forgotten, secret Bambara remedy used in childbirth. Faced with a serious drought and government corruption, he is
able to save the village and rediscover the seventh canari. In the process, he achieves a new identity
that reconciles Africa's past and present.
Critique: Ta
Dona has been praised as being Africa’s first environmental feature
film. It deals with the tremendous
complexities and difficulties confronting Malian rural dwellers as they strive
to survive and make sense of their ever changing environment. The film beautifully depicts the rhythm,
joys and problems of village life and effectively explores the relationship
between rural and urban settings.
The film’s plot is quite complex and is at times
confusing. An instructor may want to
preface the film with a brief plot summary and a list of characters. The film may need to be veiled several times
in order for the audience to tie up all the intricacies of the story-line. An instructor might also consider providing
some contextual background on the history, political economy, and social
structure of Mali.
Recommended audience: Humanities,
Social Sciences, undergraduate, graduate
THESE HANDS,
1992
45 minutes
Director: Flora M'Bugu‑Schelling
Distributor: California Newsreel
Price: $195.00 (purchase), $95.00 (rental)
Discussion guide: no
Synopsis: These Hands records the hard labor of
a group of emigre women from Mozambique living in Tanzania. The women struggle to survive by breaking
stones into small pieces for a quarry.
For their work, they earn only a pittance.
Critique: These Hands documents the strength
and beauty of the African women who survive by breaking rocks into small
stones. The film features the images
and sounds of women's hands holding and hitting rocks, of women singing to pass
the hours, and of the of the work. We
witness a rock slide in which one of the women is injured or killed.
This film remains on the outside of their experiences
and includes no narration. The images
of women pounding rocks speak for themselves.
With perhaps the most noteworthy aspect of the film being its lack of a
narrative voice. The viewer is able to enter into the lives of these women, to
empathize with their struggles and to admire their power.
The camera moves slowly and carefully throughout the
film as it pans the women pounding stone
after stone and making fine gravel from the mountains
of rockwhich surround them. We enter
into the tedium of the work as we watch and listen to stone hitting stone, see
the tired and clumsy hands of one women smash a finger between the heavy rocks,
and witness trucks, driven by men, carry the piles of gravel away. At the end of the film we learn that each
woman earns only twelve cents for her labor.
Recommended audience: Humanities,
Social Sciences, undergraduate, graduate
TREE-PLANTING IN MOZAMBIQUE, 1992
32 minutes in English
Production Company: Institute for International
Cooperation
Distributor: Institute for International Cooperation
Price: (information unavailable)
Discussion guide: no
Synopsis: Tree‑Planting in Mozambique
presents an insider's view of development work in Mozambique. The focus is one tree planting project run
by a group of five volunteers, four of whom who are from the United States and
one from Mexico.
Critique: Tree‑Planting in Mozambique
captures the reflections and the thoughts of five volunteers (ages 19‑29)
from the Institute for International Cooperation and Development (IICD) in
Williamstown, MA who decided to work on a tree‑planting project in
Nacala, a city in northern Mozambique, for six months. The film features an
unabashedly informal style, and this direct interview technique provides
intriguing glimpses of Mozambican rural life.
The volunteers express their fears and anxieties about working in a
developing country and share their frustrations as well as their sense of
accomplishment at the end of the six month project.
Unfortunately, the length and style of the film do not
allow for any in‑depth discussion of development work in Mozambique. As one volunteer comments, his main
accomplishment over the six month period was simply "being one out of
five." Another comment is, "I
wonder if it is even possible to send people from one culture to another to
help them in their development without giving the impression of some kind of
cultural dominance." Follow‑up
on these remarks would have strengthened the film.
This film is made by Institute for International
Cooperation and Development (IICD) volunteers who worked with DAPP in
Mozambique. The bias is clear‑‑they
support the work and policies of Development Aid from People to People (DAPP)
and issues surrounding the tricky act of "development" work are not
really tackled. The film tends to focus on how the project affected the
volunteers, and the Mozambicans who are interviewed appear to be saying what
they think the film crew wants to hear.
DAPP is portrayed as one of the best organizations to hit Mozambique.
Recommended Audience: Social
Sciences, undergraduate
UNDER THE BAOBAB TREE, 1997
14 minutes in English
Producer: Jonathan S. Deull and Marl J. Kaplan
Distributor: Common Ground Productions
Price: (information unavailable)
Discussion guide: no
Synopsis: For generations the ancient baobab tree
stood at the heart of the Makulele community, bringing shelter, nourishment,
and providing a meeting place. In 1969, however, the Makulele were forcibly
relocated. Their land was incorporated
into the Kruger National Park. In the mid-1990s the tree is again a meeting
place: the Makulele are seeking
restitution for their lands; and the Parks Board wants to preserve the land for conservation. The two parties try to reconcile
conservation with community needs whereby the Makulele regain ownership and
manage the land for conservation purposes.
Initial differences are settled as both parties come to appreciate the
other's point of view.
Critique: The discussions in this video between Parks
Board officials and Makulele representatives offer an exemplar of negotiation
and reconciliation. The final scene where the white Parks officials are hugged
by the previously dispossessed gives visual impact to Mandela's policy of
bringing people together to work out their differences and to transcend
oppressions of the past. This episode thus reports on negotiations towards what
was later a successful outcome. The
Makulele were financed via a non-governmental organization to establish and
manage a luxury tented camp in the game reserve.
(Written by Keyan G Tomaselli, 1998)
Recommended audience: Social Sciences,
Natural Sciences, Humanities, undergraduate, graduate
WAITING,
1996
33 minutes in English voice-over
Director: Marie-Claude Harvey
Distributor: First Run/Icarus Films
Price: $235.00 (purchase), $50.00 (rental)
Discussion guide: no
Synopsis: Waiting explores the struggles of the
United Nations to provide food aid to the Dinka in southern Sudan. The film chronicles the wait for more relief
workers to arrive in Alek, a town in southern Sudan, to distribute the food aid
air-dropped into the town.
Critique: Waiting is a very powerful evocation
of the desperate straits in which the people of southern Sudan find themselves
as they wait for the arrival of more aid workers to distribute food aid. The voice over of the film maker highlights
the gap between the security and ease of the well-fed aid workers, who wait
with the Dinka, and by extension, the West versus the starving Dinka. The film
shows sympathy for the Dinka without condemning either side. An instructor
might enhance the film by discussing the civil war in the Sudan.
Recommended audience: Social
Sciences, undergraduate, graduate
YABBA SOORE: THE PATH OF THE ANCESTORS, 1988
17 minutes in English voice-over
Director: Christopher Roy
Distributor:
The University of Iowa Audiovisual Center.
Price: $120.00 (purchase)
Discussion guide: no
Synopsis: Yabba Soore explores the
socio-cultural and ecological intersection of music, dance, and masks among
five ethnic groups in Burkina Faso (Mossi, bwa, Nuna, Winima, and Bobo). This film is from a two part series entitled
Art and Death in Africa.
Critique: Yabba Soore is a well-produced film
that interrogates the relationships between art and the tripartite nexus of the
spiritual world, the physical environment, and the everyday world of human
existence. It depicts masks and dance
performances comprehensively and in an accessible manner, and avoids
romanticizing or essentializing African art and cultural expression. The film
does a fine job depicting the intersections among nature, existence and social
artifacts which are created from this vital nexus, but perhaps it’s most
compelling feature is the exquisite footage of dance performances. Indeed, one criticism of the film is that it
moves from performance to performance too quickly, preventing the viewer from
fully appreciating the intricacies and rhythms of each dance. Filmic devices often muddy the presentation
by interrupting the performances
themselves.
Recommended audience: Humanities,
Social Science, undergraduate, graduate
ZAN BOKO (Homeland),
1988
94 minutes in More with English subtitles
Director: Gaston Kabore
Distributor: California Newsreel
Price: $195.00 (purchase), $95.00 (rental)
Synopsis: Zan Boko tells the story of a rural
Burkinabe family whose existence in their ancestral village is disrupted by the
encroaching boundaries of the capital city Ouagadougou.
Critique: Zan Boko explores the conflict
between tradition and modernity, a central theme in many contemporary African
films, such as Keïta and Ta Dona. It tells the poignant story of
a village family swept up in the current tide of urbanization. In doing so, Zan
Boko expertly reveals the transformation of an agrarian, subsistence
society into an industrialized commodity economy. Zan Boko is also one
of the first African films to explore the impact of the mass media in changing
an oral society into one where information is packaged and sold. The film
provides viewers with a unique opportunity to see our own televised
civilization through the eyes of the traditional societies it is replacing.
Recommended audience: Humanities,
Social Sciences, undergraduate, graduate
ZIMBABWE: TALKING STONES, 1993
58 minutes in English
Director: Tony Bulley
Distributor:
Films for the Humanities and Sciences.
Price: $149.00 (purchase), $75.00 (rental)
Discussion guide: no
Synopsis: Zimbabwe: Talking Stones traces the
phenomenal development of Shona (Zimbabwean) stone sculpture as an
internationally celebrated art form, from its early beginnings in the 1950s
through it recognition as a major force on the world art scene.
Critique: Zimbabwe: Talking Stones effectively
maps the development of Zimbabwean sculpture from its “contemporary”
articulations in the early 1950s through its current international
celebration. The film features
interviews with and commentaries by key players in the tradition, including
Frank McEwen, the curator of the National Art Gallery of Rhodesia in the 1950s
and 1960s and several Zimbabwean artists.
The film has a tendency to be a bit dramatic in that
it romanticizes the Zimbabwean stone sculpture movement. Partially in response to the criticism that
contemporary Shone art is really a European invention, McEwen and others are at
pains to demonstrate that Zimbabwean sculpture captures deep, embedded
spiritual traditions, repressed by a century of virulent settler
colonialism. Indeed, throughout the
film, the narrator refers to Shona art as “tribal art.”
Recommended audience: Humanities,
Social Sciences, undergraduate, graduate
ZIMBABWE: TOURISM ALONG THE ZAMBEZI RIVER, 1995
20 minutes in English
Director: Don Rook
Distributor: Films for the Humanities and Sciences
Price: $69.95 (purchase)
Discussion guide: no
Synopsis: Zimbabwe: Tourism Along the Zambezi River
attempts to critically address the complex and contradictory role played by
tourism in a small region in Zimbabwe along the Zambezi River adjacent to
Victoria Falls. The film asks the
questions, “How much do local people get from tourism?” and “Do local people
have the ability to influence the tourist industry to their own advantage?”
Critique:
The primary strength of Zimbabwe:
Tourism Along the Zambezi River is that it questions the ambiguous role
tourism plays in an economically impoverished and environmentally fragile
area. The film allows Zimbabweans
involved in various aspects of the tourist industry to speak for
themselves. Most powerful is a short
section of the film that focuses on a young male worker at a luxury hotel. The film juxtaposes scenes of his life at
work in the lavish setting of the luxury hotel with scenes of his life at home
in the township in a small two room house, without electricity or running
water, which he shares with another family.
Although the film asks many difficult questions about
tourism and development, it fails to provide adequate information for the
viewer to develop answers to those questions.
Non-expert viewers may leave the film with the sense that there is no
alternative to the current situation in Zimbabwe. Furthermore, the title of the film leads the viewer to expect
that the focus is on the Zambezi River.
In fact, the film deals with only a small area of the river in the
vicinity of Victoria Falls.
Recommended audience: Social
Sciences, Natural Sciences, undergraduate, graduate
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