Product Details

• Producers: Brandon Klein, Nic Klein, Daniel Klein, Tim Klein
• Format: NTSC, Color, Full length, Original recording, Collector's Edition
• Region: All Regions
• Number of discs: 1
• Rated: Unrated
• Studio: Klein Pictures
• Run Time: 84 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (16 customer reviews)
• ASIN: B002TNXD50
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #129,040 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)

Editorial Reviews

WHAT ARE WE DOING HERE? is a controversial documentary about why after 50 years of Western involvement, billions of dollars in foreign assistance and countless promises, Africa is still so poor.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars A newbie introduction to the dilemmas of aid, December 20, 2009

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Autodidact - See all my reviews

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This review is from: What Are We Doing Here? Feature Film Documentary DVD (DVD)

This documentary was made by a group of what look to be college age American family members -- middle class or better -- as they spent six months journeying in Africa to answer their own questions about African poverty and aid effectiveness. It personalizes and puts human faces on some African problems and has a fair amount of impressive scenery. It gives shallow attention to a number of aid dilemmas, with spokespeople for the various points of view -- more aid is needed, aid should be cut off, monitoring and evaluation are insufficient, aid is being directed by people in foreign capitals who don't know the realities on the ground, aid helps individuals, aid doesn't change structural poverty, aid creates dependence, some aid is diverted, child sponsorship programs don't give money to a child or his family, sometimes people just need help, there is no single magic solution, humanitarian neutrality creates ethical dilemmas in war zones.

These appear to be new thoughts for the creators of the film, who make themselves actors in it as they incorporate their own conversations about privilege and poverty. The film might be eye opening for those who never think about Africa or aid or don't know much about either one of them. I could see it being useful for teaching American undergraduates or high school students. If it is judged as a student project, the film is remarkable, with professional production values.

Not one of these messages is new or surprising, however, to those who have even a passing familiarity with Africa or aid or the voluminous and contested literature. The arguments are raised, glossed over, and gone; no factual support for any point of view is provided; speakers seem to be taken at face value with no effort to get to the roots of any particular issue, any one of which would warrant its own documentary. Some of the information provided by speakers is factually incorrect -- such as the idea that U.S. food aid benefits American farmers. (It benefits a tiny handful of food aid providers as well as U.S. shippers who together form a powerful lobby. For the real story, see "Food Aid After Fifty Years" by Barrett.) The film makers seem convinced that they have a handle on things after spending up to six days in a single location. As a consequence, there isn't much content here, except perhaps, "gee, poverty and aid are complicated, who would have thought it?" The adolescent conversational interludes of the film makers are a little painful to watch, and I wonder what the film makers themselves will think of them when they are about twenty years older. The overall impression is exactly what the film is presented as in the introduction -- a journey of initial discovery by people who know nothing whatsoever about a topic. Unfortunately, this is not what I want or expect from a professional documentary.

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Not just a film, but also an experience, November 17, 2009

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SWong (New York) - See all my reviews

This review is from: What Are We Doing Here? Feature Film Documentary DVD (DVD)

The first things you notice watching the opening minutes of the film are the spectacular sights and sounds of a world that most of us have never experienced first-hand. The picture is raw, yet so alive, and the words of the Africans are so rich and shocking at the same time in what they reveal. You will learn more than you've probably ever learned from school or a textbook about poverty, aid, development, and Africa in this film...and you will form your own opinions about each of those issues. The brothers who directed, photographed, and captured their experiences came to NYU for a discussion and you could tell how much their journey had changed their lives and how much they want to affect change. They did the easy part for us, as we can just sit back and let the journey and thought-provoking issues come to us.....of course, YOU will want to get up and do SOMETHING once you have watched the film.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars African ideas - not pity, November 18, 2009

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dusty foot philosopher "DFP" (Calgary, Canada) - See all my reviews

This review is from: What Are We Doing Here? Feature Film Documentary DVD (DVD)

This film is successful because it deals with ideas and arguments about the role of the West in Africa and isn't just there to make you feel sorry for Africans (which so many other documentaries do). It really made me think and question some other assumptions I had about Africa. Great film for anyone interested in understanding the world better - also very entertaining.