MOVIE ANALYSIS PAPER
Sahara
Submitted to
Leslie Jewkes
English 102 034W
College of Western Idaho
Prepared by
Ron Zechmann
ronzechmann@mycwi.cc
Ron Zechmann
English 102 034W
Leslie Jewkes
Movie Essay Rough Draft
March 20, 2011
SAHARA AFRICA
Imagine sitting in a small, wood boat going up a river with a small powered motor. You are going at a slow paced speed, taking in the sights of Africa. As you are trolling up the River Niger you notice how murky and dirty the water is, you ask the guide why the river is so dirty. The guide answers back, it is due to the pollution that tourists dump into the river as well as oil and gasoline from the many boats that travel the river. Then your attention is drawn toward the East side shore and there is a little girl scooping the water from the river into a bucket. You again ask the guide what she is doing and he again responded with an answer. He says that the little girl is getting water for her village for washing and drinking. The thought that runs through your head is, “How can they drink this water?” This brings up the concern for this area of the world. What kind of living conditions do these people have if they are relying on washing and drinking dirty, murky water from the River Niger? How are these people surviving under these extreme conditions? And how are they dealing with disease and proper hygiene when they are drinking parasite infested and polluted water?
The movie “Sahara” is a good example of the things that happen along the River Niger. Even though the movie is fiction and it isn’t based on a true story, there is a lot to learn from this movie with regards to what happens in the real world, not just in the Hollywood realm. The movie itself is entertaining for the most part. The movie starts off with action and suspense as a good action film does. This film does not address the topic of starvation or hunger, but it depicts treasure hunters on a search for lost treasure that leads them to the River Niger. As the movie progresses and the action takes itself to Africa in the Sahara, Dirk Pitt, played by Matthew McConaughy, and his sidekick, (of course there is always a sidekick in these types of movies), come across Eva Rojas, played by Penelope Cruz, a doctor trying to find the cause of a plague that is affecting the villages along the river. The plague that is described in the movie was the result of mass pollution to the water supply in the well aquifer and from the river itself. This was interesting to find out since the pollution was coming from a tycoon that was storing chemical waste and the containers were leaking into the earth and ultimately into the Aquifer.
The stars of the show must now fight off the tycoon to save the people of Africa and ultimately the world. I am not sure this is even a possibility of ever happening, and there isn’t a lot of information to back it up or to make it completely false. One thing for sure it is possible for the villages to break out of poverty with the right aid and support.
“The battle against global hunger vulnerability is winnable today, more than ever before. An important step toward ending hunger is empowering farmers in the developing world to contribute further to local and regional food needs. Initiatives like Sierra Leone's Operation Feed the Nation are training subsistence farmers to increase crop yields. This is an article that also supports showing the poor farmer ways to break out of the poverty trap with proper assistance” (Josette Sheeran).
This movie really wasn’t what I was actually looking for in this project but it did answer some questions. Do we need to take a more active role in providing a better way of life for the people in Africa? The answer is: Yes. How do the people there survive? They drink poor water and they don’t have the education to filter or distill it. As a society we have the ability to help these people and make their lives better and more fulfilling. The solution is easy: provide a better farming system and in the process teach them how to purify their water and then disease and plagues will diminish. Their health and their life expectancy will dramatically increase. To eradicate hunger and starvation in this region should be a realistic goal and as a society we can accomplish it.
Works Cited
Sahara. Dir. Breck Eisner. Perf. Matthew McConaughey, Steve Zahn, Penélope Cruz. Paramount Pictures. 2005
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