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Movies
Ed Schmidt
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The Boys of Baraka -- released in 2006. This documentary tells the story of 20 "high risk" inner city African-American boys, 12 and 13 years old, who are lifted out of the Baltimore school system and given scholarships for the Baraka School, a special school staffed by American volunteers in Kenya. The film documents the boys' home lives in Baltimore before moving on to their lives together in the Baraka School. We aren't told the exact location but it appears to be somewhere in the arid north of the country, and it is interesting to see how the boys respond to the natural and rural environment. After a year the school closes (in 2003) when the US Embassy is closed due to terrorism threats, and the boys return to their crime-ridden neighborhoods. Still there are some significant changes in some of the boys. Darwin's Nightmare -- released in 2004. This documentary is built around the arrival and departure of a huge Soviet-built cargo plane to an airstrip outside Mwanza, Tanzania. The plane will leave for Europe with a full cargo of processed, flash-frozen Nile perch that have been caught by fishermen on Lake Victoria. The film focuses of the local environmental, social, and economic impacts of this example of globalization. The nightmare in the title refers to the introduction of Nile perch into the lake and the devastation this brings to native species and the fishermen who depend on them. What is the cargo on the inbound flight? The answer seems to be weapons destined for the conflicts in the countries to the west. Excellent. |