The Descent of Man

Darwin's Nightmare, Hubert Sauper's new documentary released in the United States this week, chronicles an evolutionary and globalization-related predicament. Decades ago, the Nile perch was introduced to the waters of Lake Victoria in Tanzania, with the aim of replenishing over-fished waters. In the years since, the six-foot fish have proved a lucrative export for Tanzania, but a dangerous threat to the local economy and ecology. The perch are not only an environmental disaster, depleting the lake of many indigenous species, but are part of a trade practice that keeps native Tanzanians mired in famine and poverty. In the film, Sauper uses the savage predation of the giant perch to draw a metaphor for the capitalism that negatively affects the livelihoods of thousands. European gourmands munching perch filets are juxtaposed with Tanzanians laboring in squalor. As this Village Voice review notes, Sauper's film highlights a grotesque underside to Euro-African trade realities. –YaleGlobal