What Are We Doing Here? Feature Film Documentary DVD
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A provocative question, a daring quest Jan 17, 2010 So what does happen to that $20 a month you send to help the child whose picture is affixed to your refrigerator? Unlike so many of us who ask that question, the makers of this film went to Africa to find an answer. Like many seekers of knowledge, they not only found the answer they sought, but in the process unearthed a multitude of additional questions. While one of these became the title, there are so many more. To watch their quest unfold is inspiring on its own, but their insight is contained in the new questions that are presented, albeit not necessarily answered. See this film as part of a group, and the post-viewing dissection of the film will focus less on the cinematic aspects, and much more on the stark realities of how the world should be helping Africa versus how it is appearing to help. You can't view it and not become engaged in the quest.
Heartbreaking and inspiring. Jan 08, 2010 To me, this is a film about doing something extraordinary. It's a story of four brothers who woke up one day, turned off the PlayStation, and endeavored, instead, to live like we all wish we could: without regret. They left behind their families and friends, and found enough courage in one another to face Africa. And why Africa? Watch the film, I don't think they understood it themselves until they came back home. Africa called them like Arabia called Lawrence. The photography is beautiful and intimate. The experience of watching "What are we doing here?" is deeply personal and utterly heartbreaking. To bring you any closer, the Kleins would have to put you on a train in the middle of the Sudan. So what are you waiting for? Turn off the PlayStation already.
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A newbie introduction to the dilemmas of aid Dec 21, 2009 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.
Big questions Dec 18, 2009 My impression was that the film was about asking questions, and not about having the answers.
Lots of documentaries try to ask a big question and offer a succinct answer, but to me, the point of this film was to point out that there is no simple answer, and that maybe that's where we should start. The film opened my eyes to the magnitude of government corruption and how it paired with well-intentioned international aid policies and NGO funds flowing into the continent.
So, i just wanted to say that i think asking the questions - big-scary-seemingly-impossible-to-answer-questions - like you did is a pretty commendable thing. Great film. Thanks.
One of a kind Dec 02, 2009 This film is so powerful because it deals with the core of African Problems. From a diplomatic point of view I think everyone interested in the future of that continent should see it. From top officials to government aides that often times have direct access to shaping things. Again I really enjoyed the fresh look into a continent that has been dominated by the will of other players for so long and how even when the best intentions are prescribed, the outcomes are far from ideal.
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A newbie introduction to the dilemmas of aid Dec 21, 2009
