Movie: Vengo (2000)

Vengo (2000) is a beautiful drama/musical about gypsy flamengo music with a Shakespearean family feud. The characters and acting are touching, the music is jaw dropping; seeing it made me even more excited to visit Spain this December. Watch this movie!

Here is a scene with Calle Del Aire singing "La Caita", what a voice:


Thanks, Chris!

Movie: Darwin's Nightmare

A moody documentary, this 2004 film captures scenes from Lake Victoria's shore in Tanzania. It roughly investigates the fishing industry from different aspects such as the fishermen, the fish processing factory owner, the Russian cargo plane pilots, the village pastor, the prostitutes, the street children, and the impotent bureaucracy.

The lake's cash crop is Nile Perch, an alien species predating native fish. Introduced in 1950 years ago by "one man one afternoon with one bucket," the fish is a multi-billion dollar industry doomed to collapse when the ecosystem is inevitably destroyed.

This tragic tale follows the Nile Perch out of the lake, into the fish processing plant, and the filleted carcasses to a dump site where starving Tanzanians try to dry the fish heads among maggots.

Filmmaker Hubert Sauper not only uncovered what the Russian pilots were secretly bringing into Africa on their fish cargo runs, but also filmed secondary consequences of the fishery in the community.

Don't expect a clean lens, subtitles, or in depth interviews, but do expect a moving and heartfelt story about real problems.

Fishing for Nile Perch on Lake Victoria


Working in the fish processing plant. Fillets go to Europe, carcasses go to the starving.


Drying Perch carcasses in Tanzania.


Cooking Perch heads in Tanzania.

Movie: Lessons in Darkness by Werner Herzog

"Lektionen in Finsternis" (1992) or "Lessons in Darkness" by Werner Herzog is an uncommon documentary filmed in Kuwait during and after the war. Werner's website claims,

"An apocalyptic vision featuring the oilwell fires in Kuwait after the Gulf-War, as a whole world burst into flames. This film is stylized as science fiction, as there is not a single shot in which you can recognize our planet."

Werner gives the viewer almost no information about what is displayed, much like one of my other favorite movies Koyaanisqatsi, it relies on the visuals alone to tell a very compelling story.




The most stunning image of the film was the extinguishing of a large burning oil well. A metal drum packed with high explosives was slowly held over the torrent of fire by a long crane whilst being cooled by jets of water. Once in the center of the blaze, the high explosives detonated, creating a large explosion. This removed enough oxygen to extinguish the burning oil well. In the next shot, the firefighters were covered in oil now raining down from the sky. Truly fighting fire with fire.


The Narrator:

"Two figures are approaching an oil well. One of them holds a lighted torch. What are they up to? Are they going to rekindle the blaze? Is life without fire become unbearable for them?... Others, seized by madness, follow suit. Now they are content. Now there is something to extinguish again."

I highly recommend you watch this thought provoking movie. Download the film as a torrent (for this you will need BitTorrent). 52 minutes, 700 MB. It is also available via Netflix and Amazon.