Zorky asked me about DARWIN'S NIGHTMARE, which I picked to win the documentary Oscar. Sad to say, I missed opps to see any of the other nominees. STREET FIGHT was playing at the Brattle the two days before the awards! But with the weekend I had I couldn't motivate to get there. Nuts.
Yeah, I even picked NIGHTMARE over MARCH OF THE PENGUINS. Call me crazy. I just had some odd (non)aftertaste regarding the MARCH after reading some articles/reviews that described how it was being promoted - without any push from the film's creators - as a Christian film, portraying the reflection of Christian family values in the oh-so-cute tuxedo'd wild...
It didn't keep me up at night or anything, but it was enough to keep me from going to experience MARCH on my own, as it seemed that when the opps arose to see it with others, the group mind would go with something more KONG, or SYRIANA, or KISS KISS BANG BANG, or DOOM.
Oh. Ummm... No, that's not quite right.
I had to go see DOOM by myself...
Yeah. I was the one. That was me.
It didn't TO-tally suck.
REALLY!
And on top of the Rock and XENA's Julius Caesar, it featured the woman who plays Lizzy's sister in PRIDE & PREJUDICE. Was a little funny having the afterimage of her DOOMed research scientist role superimposed on the PRIDE experience.
Anyhow, I wanted to fill Zorknapp in on NIGHTMARE and found that I'd put together an email blast pushing it at people back in December when I caught it at the Brattle. So, with a few edits and tweaks, here's my DARWIN'S NIGHTMARE plug from December 2005. Please excuse me for cheating off myself, but hey, don't I get points for recycling?
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Looking to get angry and sad and frustrated at the state of the world? Not getting enough bad news from your favorite cable news network? I recommend a dose of "WTF is wrong w the world?" maddening documentary reality in the form of DARWIN'S NIGHTMARE
You will likely hafta look hard to find it in theaters just now, but I'm guessing its Oscar nom should help to bring it back for a while as well as accelerate a U.S. DVD release. It's a heaping helping of that
Some 50 to 60 years ago, the monstrous Nile Perch was introduced to the ecosystem of Lake Victoria in Africa. DARWIN'S NIGHTMARE ostensibly covers a pretty simply defined issue - the ecological and economic impact this alien life form has had on the area. A relentless predator, it has disturbed the native balance of the lake's wildlife, while at the same time, singlehandedly - singlefinnedly? - enabled the creation of an apparently booming fishing export industry for the lakeside towns and villages of Tanzania.
Really, the documentary bobs and weaves in and out and quite a bit beyond these events...
As a cargo plane awaits its hundreds-of-tons payload of fish for delivery to European dinner tables, the radio news broadcasts a bulletin about international famine relief requested for Tanzania.
Many other planes come and go as this plane sits waiting at the airport. What is their cargo and where is it destined to go?
Parts of the film points up something that FUTURE OF FOOD pushed hard. That there is no immediate food crisis as far as food production vs. population is concerned. The crisis is not in the numbers, in meeting demand, but in access, in price. Big money thrown into production line methods applied to fishing can result in massive yields, but of a product that cannot be afforded by those who work the production line...
Grah. I can't do the subject or the filmmaking decent justice w my rambling ways. Please check out the Brattle's blurb and the Boston Globe's review...
Again, NOT the feel-good movie of the fall, and honestly, the documentary pace may seem slow, but I think it is respectful of the settings and situations of its subjects, and required in the building of its case. The film is very patient with its interviews, its witnesses, and doesn't take any shortcuts or spell anything out for its audience. You figure out who or what Darwin's nightmare actually is. Check it out.
Keep on keepin on~
3 comments:
Ask, and ye shall receive... Now that I've re-read your synopsis, I do remember the initial e-mail. Of course, even though we do get some obscure movies up here, I don't think this one found its way to our humble little down.
God-damn rural bastards!
Okay, it's out of my system now, really...
And, even though I would have struggled, I would have gone to see Doom with you had I been in Boston... Ah, regrets, I've had a few, but then again, too few to mention.
I do plan on seeing The Hills Have Eyes this Friday with some horror-loving co-workers.
Is it okay to make this comment section my own personal blog annex?
Annex away! So long as you at least START on topic... or close-topic... stone's throw from topic...?
THE HILLS HAVE EYES looks to be a lot of fun. Have you seen the original?
*** possible spoiler, if the remake follows the old school version closely ***
The original HILLS HAVE EYES may be the movie (MPAA rated movie, perhaps?) that comes closest to breaking the big screen taboo of offing a baby or toddler on-screen. That little cinema factoid I only know/recognized (once I watched it) with the guidance of my college roomie and gore/horror movie master Ross.
Since then, I think the closest that I've seen a movie come to that... ummm... feat, I guess? in my moviewatching experience, is MIMIC.
I've got a decent amount of movie-going catch-up to play now. I haven't yet seen ULTRAVIOLET, WHEN A STRANGER CALLS, or FINAL DESTINATION 3, dammit!
You do remember, of course, that we saw "Mimic" together?
I've seen the original "Hills Have Eyes," but only on TV. I really should rent it, because even though this new one looks fun, I'm sure the original was better.
And I also recall the conversation about the baby offing. One of those random bits of trivia that I'll probably mention on my deathbed, like "Rosebud."
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