"Black Gold" is an eye-opening documentary that is sure to change the way people see their morning cup of joe. Throughout the 78-minute movie, viewers are challenged to make the connection between their lattes, the world market and the birthplace of coffee, Ethiopia.
The focus of "Black Gold" is the valiant effort of the Oromia Cooperative Union (OCU) to help Ethiopian coffee farmers receive greater profits. They accomplish this by selling the farmers' beans directly to high-paying, fair trade coffee roasters and sellers, cutting out the middlemen that normally absorb most of the profits. Viewers travel with the film's hero and manager of the OCU, Tadesse Meskela, around the world as he tries to market his people's coffee for a fair price.
The film makes its point through poignant and sometimes heartbreaking contrast, as scenes sway from sparkling, western coffee enterprises to earth-toned, Ethiopian shantytowns where coffee farmers reside. One telling moment features Janine, the manager of the first Starbucks in Seattle, talking about how Starbucks is "amazing, not just because of how much bigger [it's] getting, but because of the lives [it's] touching." Quickly, the film cuts to Sidama, the coffee community in Ethiopia that supplies Starbucks with its beans.
Viewers are taken to a therapeutic feeding center, where malnourished children are weighed with a grocery store-style fruit scale. Their weight determines whether they will receive help at the center. The audience cannot help but shudder as a skeletal toddler is turned away from the center because he is "too well nourished."
Compelling statistics are scattered throughout the film. For instance, at the retail level, the coffee market is a $30 billion industry, but because of unfair trade laws, the 11 million people in Ethiopia who count on coffee for survival are not able to maintain subsistence levels. Meskela says that for every pound of coffee beans sold on the regular market, the farmer makes 40 cents while the retailer generates over $100.
Through the endeavors of the OCU and the use of fair trade markets, soft-spoken Meskela is able to put $1.21 per pound of coffee produced back in the coffee farmer's pocket, and 5 cents in a fund that is used to finance community projects such as building schools and roads.
The creators of "Black Gold," British filmmakers Marc and Nick Francis, widen the lens to examine how the World Trade Organization (WTO) manipulates trade rules to benefit only rich countries. Viewers witness the indignation of African trade ministers after being completely ignored and excluded from negotiations at a WTO summit in Cancun. Ironically, the African people are the most heavily affected and negatively afflicted by these trade agreements.
The film ends on a sour but hopeful statistic: If Africa's share in world trade could increase by just one percent, it would generate $70 billion a year, five times the amount the whole continent receives in aid. The film insists that this small increase is possible as long as people direct their consumer power to fair trade markets. The message here is that one simple purchase choice can support global justice.
As Meskela states, "The problem is lack of awareness. Hopefully one day people will know what they are drinking"
