Black Gold

http://www.chicagoreader.com/chicago/black-gold/Film?oid=1075118\\

In the world as we know it, coffee is the second most traded commodity. There is a high potential for profit at all levels, however, this documentary does a very good job in showing the gross inequality between the top and the bottom. Many poignant facts were presented and emotions were conveyed deeply through the interviews of the farmers in Ethiopia that depend on this trade for their living. As film critic J.R. Jones of the Chicago Reader would seemingly agree, Black Gold presents through juxtaposition the reality that relief aid from outside nations is not working and that free trade is the best likely candidate to replace it. However, when the film presents the WTO and leading nations like the US and the EU, stances become muddied and there is a hard turn away from solutions. Moreover, viewers did not gain a full sense of the full market process and valuation, there were crucial processing steps missing that are undoubtedly expensive. At the conclusion, it was clear that there were large problems, yet the lack of participation of other entities in the industry only further muddies the water. We know there are problems and we know that things like demanding fair trade coffee make a difference in the lives of those in desperate need it. This is a change we should make, educate others of, and demand of our institutions.