A report by Eric Loefflad on a film screening jointly hosted by the Kent Centre for Critical International Law (CeCIL) and Social Critiques of Law (SoCRIL)
Hubert Sauper’s film Darwin’s Nightmare was shown in a film screening hosted last week by CeCIL in conjunction with its sister-centre Social Critiques of Law (SoCRIL).
This film centred upon intersecting interactions as they related to the fishing industry in the town of Mwanza, Tanzania on Lake Victoria. In the course of this portrayal, the viewer is introduced to various actors including fisherman, processing facility workers, salvagers, homeless children, sex workers, Russian and Ukrainian pilots, local fishing business owners, and European Union trade policy officials. While no guiding narrative was presented from the onset, throughout the film we learn that so many of the issues presented, especially as they relate to the harsh conditions experienced by the local population, are the result of the introduction of the Nile perch into Lake Victoria and its devastating impact upon native species that once provided subsistence.
In the post-film discussion lead by Donatella Alessandrini (Kent Law School) the context of the situation presented in the film was discussed in greater detail. Towards this end, Donatella explained how the events in Mwanza were constructed in great part by a major shift in development policy whereby the old large-scale state-lead projects were replaced with a decentralised approach whereby localised productive practices were made to openly compete in an increasingly liberalised world market. The film rendered this visible in its depiction of EU officials technocratically discussing the quality standards of Tanzanian produced fish for the European market while seemingly oblivious (or at least indifferent) to the reality that many in the local population survive on the discarded remains of the fish produced for this market. Another one of the many transnational connections depicted in Darwin’s Nightmare was the smuggling of the weapons fuelling African conflicts on the same planes the Russian and Ukrainian pilots used to transfer the fish to Europe.
All in all, the film’s often disturbing visual depictions highlighted the inequitable realities of global commodity production and distribution that are fundamentally constructed and managed through complex legal regimes. Thus, Darwin’s Nightmare uniquely offers lawyers and legal scholars a reminder that their seemingly abstract professional medium cannot be meaningly separated from its material conditions and consequences. This in turn, raises profound questions as to what ideological machinations end up justifying this reality and why?