What Are We Doing Here? Feature Film Documentary DVD
Alternate Views:
Watch the Trailer:
Learn More About the Film: For more information about the film, please read the full synopsis, watch the HD trailer or see us on CNN. Also, learn about how the film was made and what people are saying about it. FHS is our exclusive distributor.
If you work for/represent an organization or institution, you must purchase the film from our exlusive distributor www.films.com
and Klein Pictures have teamed up to distribute the film with: FREE SHIPPING anywhere in the Continental USA. You can use your existing Amazon.com account to buy the film and have it shipped anywhere in the world.
Customer Reviews:
Average Customer Review: ( 15 customer reviews )
Write an online review and share your thoughts with other customers.
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
11 of 11 found the following review helpful:
A newbie introduction to the dilemmas of aid Dec 21, 2009
By Autodidact 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 found the following review helpful:
Not just a film, but also an experience Nov 18, 2009
By SWong 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 found the following review helpful:
African ideas - not pity Nov 18, 2009
By dusty foot philosopher
"DFP"
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.
1 of 1 found the following review helpful:
The truth is out there Nov 18, 2009
By Karl Young
"karl"
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!
1 of 1 found the following review helpful:
little lost, but then 100% recommend Nov 17, 2009
By Meredith Cirel
"Mary Cirel"
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.
and Klein Pictures have teamed up to distribute the film with: 
( 15 customer reviews )
A newbie introduction to the dilemmas of aid Dec 21, 2009
Not just a film, but also an experience Nov 18, 2009
