Black Gold is a documentary telling a story about coffee
trading and its issues; it portrays Tadesse Meskela, a coffee trader, and
the struggles that his workers go through the payment gaps of the trading
system. In the other words, the movie is centered in the unfairness of the
empire.
The review written by Rovi Jason Buchanan on “Rotten Tomatoes” says, “Filmmakers
Marc and Nick Francis team to explore the discrepancy between the skyrocketing
profits of multinational coffee companies and the all-time low prices paid for
coffee harvests in a documentary that aims to provide a voice to the struggling
farmers and laborers who strive to keep the coffee flowing.” I believe
that the movie is much more than that. It is obviously concentrating in the
economic system, but it is only showing another of the flaws of the empire. As Colossians Remix chapter 9 says, “You
see, if there is something any empire wants you to believe, it is that ‘what
you see is what you get’” which is not true for almost everything in life – the
shell is just the cover, the snail is the prima donna. In the movie there is a
part that shows Tadesse Meskela looking for Ethiopian coffee in a normal
grocery store… he had a hard time finding it. This addresses the issue that
consumers do not really think about the products they buy, they do not ask
where it comes from, who made it, and if it was fairly made; the empire tricks
us into believing that consuming without thinking is good because it is “cheap”.
Furthermore, the movie gave me a moment of epiphany that made me think that I should
be more conscience about the things I buy: just because the clothes look clean and
sleek (e.g.: GAP, Nike…) does not mean that it was fairly made or just because the
food tastes good does not mean that the farmers that worked for it did not
suffer. PS: we are humans, living things easy to be fooled, so be careful of
advertisements and logos!
Review link: http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/10006485-black_gold/
This post reminds me very much of the corporations documentary that we recently watched. I believe that watching this movie will teach us the behind the scenes information that we do not realize. Many people focus too much on their personal consumption and fail to realize the possibly gruesome acts done to get the products made. Good post and I look forward to hearing your presentation in class.
ReplyDeleteThis documentary sounds very interesting! I definately think coffee as a fair trade product is one of the things many people have become more aware of within the last few years, but I definatley think that this industry needs to continue to improve in the right direction. I definately agree that it is very easy to forget that our clothes or other products we buy are most likely not made with the workers in mind, but instead money and the amount of profit each product will bring to the corporation and buisness. Hopefully as more people become aware of the realities, we will begin to see change as the demand for fairly made products increases.
ReplyDeleteGreat comments, Sin Hee. We're always glad to hear about epiphanies, especially when they are in service of global justice! As we've been exploring in class, it's always good to pull back the curtain a little bit in order to see how products are made or food is grown. Often the whole story is being hidden from us.
ReplyDelete