Educational Media Reviews Online

Four young American filmmakers quit their jobs and go to Africa to travel from Cairo to Capetown to make this film exploring the continent’s poverty and bloodshed. Moreover, they specifically set out to investigate the impact of foreign aid on the people and communities. The team makes powerful statements and asks probing questions in their first person accounts. They interview each other to reflect upon their experiences and interview people from a wide array of backgrounds to gain their insights. They state, “Helping in Africa is never as it seems.” “Why do people who can afford guns need food handouts?” “How is it that fertile lands, such as those in Ethiopia, can still be poor?” Though some of these questions do not have firm answers, the team does their best to find plausible explanations for and/or solutions to the crises they encounter. For example, they learn that cash crops often coincide with sustenance crops in Ethiopia, meaning that many farmers do not diversify to safeguard against possible dips in market prices.

In a unique elucidation, the filmmakers examine child sponsorship by citizens abroad. In truth, they learn that the monies actually go to community development, not to any one child. Citizens and leaders alike call for proper monitoring and evaluation needed for aid, as the aid is often haphazard in application. For example, AIDS drugs are supplied to shanty villages, but there is no nutritional supply to support good diets.

Though somber in tone, the film offers great sources of hope. Though Somalia is ruled by warlords, a northern section has succeeded de facto, exercises democracy, accepted virtually no foreign aid, and has designed to declare sovereignty. The film demonstrates the benefits of such initiatives as Micro Finance to enable women to establish credit, water storage projects and irrigation. Nonetheless, the team witnesses criminals of genocide in Rwanda walk freely and steal sundries from aid supplies.

This is a truly revealing work that adopts an independent approach. That is, these filmmakers are not established reporters with escorts that may affect the subjects. They ride on the floors of trains, walk through treacherous terrain, and bring an unadulterated, non-staged examination to the audience. The film calls upon the viewers to challenge our ways of thinking about Africa, and how we must address its many chronic problems.

The film is beautifully edited, with a good deal of presentations of text and animated maps. Generally, there are subtitles when needed, but there are periodic absences of subtitles at certain times in which thick accents may make it difficult for some audiences to discern.