Darwin's Nightmare

This is a film for which the acronym “WTF” was pretty much invented. Though this is supposed to be a documentary on the effects of the introduction of the Nile perch on the ecosystem and economics of the Nile Valley, there’s almost no clue what the movie’s about until nearly 15 minutes have gone by. There’s a five-minute opening sequence of a man swatting at a bee. God knows why. It’s not an interesting image; it’s not well shot; it does nothing for the story. Then minor characters appear and show pictures of the children. Why? Again, I have no idea. The degree of incompetence and self-indulgence that filmmaker Hubert Sauper engages in is mind-boggling. He clearly thinks he’s a genius and that we, the audience, should simply marvel at his meandering and worthless footage. It’s too bad, because there’s an interesting topic buried under the inability to make a film here.