The Dark Side of Chocolate
How does this film relate to economics?
The children working on the farms are harvesting the raw cocoa plants and it sold to manufacturers. This is an example of an activity level 1 economic system, they sell the raw materials to the manufacturers. The cocoa is sold to the manufacturers 1 pound of cocoa for 1 euro. Then, the 1 pound of cocoa is made to cocoa powder or butter and sold to the factories like nestle still at an activity level 2. Then the 1 pound of cocoa is turned into 43 chocolate bars on average and sold for a lot more. They outsource to the U.S and Europe.
What is the bias of this film? Does this film present objective?
This film is to bring the light on the illegal trafficking of children and how they are being used as slaves on the cocoa plantations. The film does give real provable facts, they go to the cocoa farms with hidden cameras and literally show you the child trafficking and the slavery.
Write synopsis of the film.
At the beginning, the film went with a hidden camera to Mali and found out from the local police that the trafficking of children was happening in the government provided busses. They show how the children first travel by bus to a town near the border of Mali and Ivory Coast then they travel by motorbike along a "back road" across the border into the Ivory Coast. Then. they show the children literally working on the farms and shows physical evidence of the child slavery on the cocoa farms. In the end of the film they show the video to the UN and he says how they have know of the slavery and are trying their best to help the problem. Then they say how some top companies that buy from the cocoa farms like Nestle refuse to see the film and they end up going to nestle and showing them on a huge screen in front of the nestle hq the film.
Write an opinion of the film. Was it informative? What did you learn? What question do you still have? Did you like it or not? Was it intriguing? Did you do any further research after watching it?
I liked this film and agree that child trafficking and slavery is a terrible problem and should be stopped. It was extremely informative showing you first hand the children being taken across the border from Mali to Ivory Coast illegal through child trafficking. I learned that some big name corporations like nestle don't care enough that the cocoa farms they get their cocoa from and using children as slaves on the farms. I definitely agree with what this film is trying to make us realize. It was an intriguing film, I really liked how they used a hidden camera to show the hard reality of the situation.
I rate this film a solid 4 out of 5 cocoa beans.
Top Quotes
"When you eat chocolate, you eat my flesh"
Amadou, former child slave
Kids - most are 11 to 16 but some younger - are forced to work 80 to 100 hours a week without pay"
Kathy Wilmore
Level 2 Questions
How do these children negatively impact from being slaves on a cocoa farm?
They are forced to not go to school, and they are introduced to pesticides that appear later in their life only to have negative effects.
How would the economy be hurt if all the child slaves were removed from the cocoa farms?
All of the cocoa related product would have an extreme rise in price due to the shortage of people to harvest the cocoa.
Additional Information about the film
Director: Miki Mistrati, U Roberto Romano
Producer: Helle Faber
Production Company: Bastard Film
Distribution Company: DR TV International Sales, Yleisradio
Locations Filmed: Cologne, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany, Geneva, Canton de Genève, Switzerland, Mali
Year: 2010