Customer Reviews

What Are We Doing Here? Feature Film Documentary DVD

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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.

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.

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.

Wow! I actually saw this film/DVD at a university screening I am the person who spoke up at the showing and tried to shame the professors whose criticisms were so personal and so irrelevant.

I would like to echo the audiences sentiments - that it was obvious you young men had no agenda when you went to Africa to try to find out why Africa's poverty was so entrenched, and why all of the good intentions and (now) trillions of dollars poured into the country over the past 50 years have not alleviated the situation in any meaningful way. The "message" was that of the hundreds of people you interviewed, and if some people don't like it, well, don't shoot the messenger. But more about that in a moment...

I am writing to offer two thoughts, from long experience in higher education, and in this area:

One: you are not alone. Some of those who have worked in this area for decades - as well as some who have decided, like you, to examine, dispassionately, what's been done - have reached the same conclusion that so many in your film have - that "top-down" aid does not work as it is intended to. Alvaro Vargas Llosa (South America), Paul Polak (Africa), and David Bornstein (social entrepreneur) are three writers you should read - and contact, if you can - as they will be able to shed light not only on WHY these earlier programs have not worked, but WHAT ELSE can be done that WILL work. You will find that what they tell you reinforces what you were told by so many in Africa.

The class I teach (that (hidden) has taken) is called " (hidden) , (hidden) Development and (hidden) Policy" and the section we were discussing the week before your film was screened here was on entrepreneurial poverty initiatives. The writers I mentioned above - and many, many others - all explain that the initiatives and programs that work best are the most "entrepreneurial" ones - meaning, the ones with "boots on the ground," working directly with the intended recipients as participants, becoming aware of their actual needs, wants, constraints (medical, nutritional, topological, climatological, cultural, etc.) If mistakes are made when these programs are small, grassroots efforts, they can be "tweaked" and adjusted while they are still small - witness your African farmer's efforts to create alternative irrigation methods that worked despite droughts - and then scaled UP successfully. The problem with the big, multi-million (or billion) dollar programs - especially those managed from afar (as nearly all of them are) is that those running the programs have little familiarity with the region, culture, etc. And so when problems arise (and problems ALWAYS arise), rather than being small problems that can be adjusted, they are widespread, systemic, catastrophic failures that you've just thrown millions at. But rather than admitting, "we didn't know what we were doing," the "answer" is always, "we need more millions." Or billions. And if you oppose this, you become someone who is now somehow not interested in alleviating the plight of the those suffering horrifically.

This accusation is manifestly unfair, but you need to be prepared for it - and prepared to defend against it. And this brings me to my next point.

I see from your website that you've already been to a number of places with this film. If you have not already figured this out, you will encounter incredible hostility on college campuses. I suspected this when I saw the title and description of your film, but I was sure of it once I watched the film.

It was poignant, gut-wrenching, and heart-rending. But as I said in my comments after your film was screened here on the (hidden) campus, it skewers a number of sacred cows. Many, many academics believe that there is no good program unless it is a government program. No matter how many times dictators take money from western nations and blow it on themselves, academics here will insist that they are just misunderstood, and what's needed is "more money."

The first professor who criticized your film last night made me furious, as he just flung a bunch of accusations at you in a diatribe against a film you never made! He criticized you for not having addressed suffering in America in a film about suffering in AFRICA? I'm sorry, but what does the fact that the bottom has fallen out of the investment market here have to do with a little girl afflicted with HIV/AIDS in Africa, trying to feed her four little brothers? Are we supposed to equate the difficulties of someone like me whose lost a lot of money from my pension (for example) with THAT??? He should be ashamed of himself for even trying to assert that those were actual criticisms of the film.

Let me tell you what was really going on last night: the LAST thing many academics want to hear - and that fellow was apparently among them - is that entrepreneurship, individual enterprise, and market initiatives are solutions to poverty. They will not listen to that message in this country, and they will not listen to it elsewhere. They loathe capitalism, loathe free markets, loathe individual initiative - and so what your film presented was anathema to them.

And keep in mind, these were not even YOUR suggestions, nor YOUR criticisms, but those of the political leaders, heads of NGOs, villagers, and other community leaders you interviewed in Africa. For those who purport to want to end poverty, but who refuse to listen to the poor, doesn't that tell you something?

I have been in higher education for nearly 20 years. In that time, I have heard plenty about how "capitalist imperialism" has destroyed nations, reduced them to poverty, etc. But now it is apparent that so-called "capitalist imperialism" has been replaced by a pseudo-intellectualist imperialism. By which I mean that a worldwide army of "scholars" who publish for like-minded others in peer-reviewed journals think they know better than the intended recipients of their "beneficence" what those people need. And God help anyone who tries to - or does - prove them wrong.

You tasted just a bit of their disdain last night. I would suspect that it was not the first time. It certainly will not be the last. My advice (unsolicited, albeit): DO NOT APOLOGIZE FOR YOUR FILM, ITS VOICES, OR ITS MESSAGE. The people who criticize you cannot abide anyone pointing out their failures. They profess to "speak truth to power." But they have BECOME the power, and will not permit anyone to speak truth to them.

You will notice that they did not actually challenge any of the things your speakers said. Because they cannot. And they know it. And it would be manifestly politically incorrect to mock the Africans themselves. So they did the next best thing - they mocked the filmmakers.

Don't fall for it, gentlemen. You did a fine thing. Be proud of yourselves. Be proud of your film. Welcome the attacks - it means you are doing something right. And I will look forward to hearing more from all of you.

With respect.

What Are We Doing Here? I spent the first 45 years of my life never even pondering this question. The closest I ever really came to it were the few times I purchased pre-packaged food bags for relief efforts from my local grocery chain and proudly delivered them to the narthex of my church. Feeding the world's hungry certainly felt like one of those "no-brainer" types of noble causes (still does) and it always felt good to do "my part." Since viewing the work of the Kleins, I now recognize that "my part" does not need to include an ignorant impression of "doing good." Their film helped me to become a more informed citizen of the world and to understand the good and bad aspects of "helping" others. Their message is poignant and much needed for all of us to make a true difference on an amazing continent filled with amazing people who want nothing more than the things I take for granted. I highly recommend viewing this family-made movie with your family, and then immediately deciding what you can do to make a difference in Africa.

As someone who is often disappointed with hollywood movies that tend to spend more money on marketing than developing a decent film, this documentary is on the opposite end of the spectrum! Made in an unconventional and highly controversial fashion, Klein pictures have done what few other Africa documentaries have, taken the issues to a wide variety of people on the ground in Africa and let them show the truth and argue the facts in a fresh and challenging manner. African poverty is often a one dimensional and slightly ambiguous issue that is hard for westerns to understand and digest and leads to a huge amount of ignorance on our side and leave us unsure how to participate in one of the great problems our world faces today. This film is a fantastic introduction to many of the issues and communicates them in a way that is accessible and stimulating. I highly recommend this film to anyone interested in Africa, the issues and intense and adventure filed travel in a land few people see let alone understand!

I recently saw this move at a screening at Columbia University organized by a student group. I really found this film thought provoking and well done. We also participated in a great Q&A session with one of the film makers which was a bonus, and the film generated a lot of meaningful conversation amongst the attendees and even in my classes. I think What Are We Doing Here? really asks the right questions. Where are my donations going?, What is working? What isn't working? Most importantly, this video gives Africans a voice which we don't often hear in the West. I look forward to more films from these film makers.

I have to admit, I don't know the geography of Africa and so it took me a moment to figure out the movie makers journey. After that, I was amazed by the interweaving of the travel with the topics of charity and poverty and philanthropy and music and sponsoring children, and mostly the beauty of Africa.

There are so many negative portrayals of Africa. If I had a penny for everytime I heard a celebrity talk about how bad things are in Africa, or how terrible it is, or how we need to SAVE them, they would be rich and we wouldn't feel obliged to donate our hard earned money overseas.

The film starts in Egypt, although, there doesn't appear to be any action there. The directors then follow individual characters in each country they visit. My favorite by far are Sarah from Kenyan National TV who visits the famine in her country. And perhaps the most touching portrayal of child headed households and genocide victims ever witnessed on a feature film is Margarite's family in Rwanda. The white brothers seem so out of place with them, it is amazing to see the juxtaposition. But at the same time it is like the directors don't exist because the presence of this young girl and her brothers overwhelms anyone I have sat and watched the film with.

I don't think the film will win awards for editing or writing, but it deserves an award for honesty. Westerners are so jaded by fast action movies, I hope that everyone interested in ending poverty will slow down for 90 minutes and watch this film.

This film is fantastic. I only wish the filmmakers spent more time addressing food aid and child sponsorship (perhaps 10 minutes each?) These are the closest topics to my heart as i donate money to each through my local and international charities. I had no idea what was really happening. I am so used to the sad faced African pleas on TV and my charity desperately trying anything under the sun to get me to give more money. Thank you Klein Brothers for making this film. I am sending friends to the site right now to buy it.

Hands down the best documentary about Africa I have ever seen. Whether you are learning about charities for the first time, or you are Koffi Annon and a seasoned aid worker, you will be in awe of this film. Watch it from beginning to end. Then watch it again. Then pass it on. The directors don't share their opinion on the topic openly like so many modern day successful documentaries, but their message of education while still entertaining is perfectly balanced.