Educational Media Reviews Online

Fishers of Dar is an atmospheric depiction of the timeless fishing culture of Dar es Salaam in Tanzania. The film begins at dawn and follows the fisherman fishing with nets, bringing the catch to market, cleaning and preparing the fish, and finally shopping and bargaining for seafood in the open air market.

This is a documentary without narration and subtitles. The dialog appears to be in Swahili? Because there is no narration or subtitles, the visuals must carry the message. Unfortunately, some parts of the visual narrative were confusing. For example, who were the Indian women in the fish market, what was the blacksmith making, and why were thousands of minnows being spread on the ground?

Music was not used in Fishers of Dar, except for a brief introductory musical excerpt in the beginning. Editing was fast paced and interesting. The visuals could be quite beautiful. Color and sound were satisfactory, but my examination copy appeared to have a serious defect. The film ended abruptly at thirty four minutes without credits. A still frame of a fisherman out a sea is the last image. It makes me wonder if other copies of this tape have a similar defect.

While the video is fascinating from an artistic point of view, its value as a documentary appears limited to me. Correct usage in an anthropology class would require extensive narration and background information to be useful. Vegetarians and Western animal rights activists will be upset by the gutting and processing of fish and crustaceans--some of whom are torn apart alive. Expert narration or subtitles would improve the utility of the video. Not Recommended.