The Common Experience Movie Night Jan. 13 could have been a nightmare in more than one way.

The movie “Darwin’s Nightmare” was to be shown in Meadow Lodge at 7:30 p.m.; however, due to scheduling errors it was moved to Woodland Lodge at 7:40 p.m.

“Darwin’s Nightmare” is a documentary written and directed by Hubert Sauper about the fish industry in Tanzania, Africa.

“What was Darwin’s nightmare?” Kim Pelle, Common Experience Program Committee member and Non-traditional Student Programs and Adult Student Center coordinator, said to those in attendance. The nightmare began when the Nile perch, a non-native fish, was introduced into Lake Victoria in the 1960s.

The Nile perch soon killed off the other fish species which in turn deteriorated the ecosystem of Lake Victoria.

However, this is not the documentary’s focus. Sauper’s main attention is on the adverse affects that the fishing industry is having on the people of Tanzanian. While the fish market is profitable for company owners, with 500 tons of Nile perch fillets made out of the country daily, the Tanzanian people are starving to death.

Farmers move to the lake to become fishermen. Once at the colony by the lake, they live in housing that is nothing more than lean-tos made from scraps of metal and wood.

While many men find work as fishermen or in the factories, the women are not as lucky. Single women and women who have lost their husbands often turn to prostitution.

This prostitution soon spreads diseases such as AIDS. As disease and sickness spread through the colony more and more children became homeless, left on the streets to die.

Late in the movie, so-called empty planes were revealed to be loaded with weapons for the war and with fish fillets to be flown out several times a day. What is left of the fish, the rotting heads and bones, is trucked to the colonies to be boiled down for food for the people to eat.

Though the government is aware of the conditions in Tanzania they allow it to continue. “It’s all about money, but they [the Tanzanian people] bring some of it on themselves” Diane Drabb, business freshman, said during the discussion after the movie. The next Common Experience event, Politics of Environmental Issues, will be held Wednesday, Jan. 28, in the IUS Library from 7:30 p.m. to 9 p.m.

For a complete list of events visit the Common Experience Web site.

By LORI RICHIE
Staff Writer
larichie@ius.edu