Virunga

After another day of middling success in staying ahead of all of my homework, I decided to treat myself and watch a movie.  Since the last one I watched was the assembly cut of Alien 3, I feel obligated to watch something that was firmly grounded in reality, and hopefully didn't make me feel like taking a shower after watching it.  This is by no means a bad thing.  In fact I rather enjoyed it. And the fact that it is even coherent considering the almost literal production hell that it went though.  While thematically, Virunga and Alien 3 couldn't be more different, the behind the scenes of Alien 3 and the forefront of Virunga are actually pretty close.  They both examine the power struggle of corporations and passionate individuals trying to make something they love out of a historically valuable resource.  Virunga is a national park located in one of the most disputed and violent territories in recent history.  It is a place of epiphanic beauty.  It is also a place of staggeringly valuable natural resources.  The beauty and capital dichotomy is personified in this place.  The wildlife on the surface is slaughtered for the smallest piece, as long as it has a large price tag.  Ivory and the hands of gorillas, brutally hacked away.  And below the surface, oil and ore, looking to be extracted with similar prescription.  And in the middle, a fatherless man trying to give what he lost to abandoned gorillas.  A reporter trying to unearth the corruption in SOCO's business activites, firsthand witnesses the lack of respect that this company has for the people living there.  And a sworn defender of the park, who must put his life on the line and be first on the scene to the brutal mistreatment of the land and creatures he protects.  I don't think that linking the latest news on what is going on there is ruining the story, and it is good to know that the appropriate side is winning at the moment.  The Congo, as history has demonstrated, is a turbulent place.  I hope that his success, albeit small, will be indicative of what is to come for such a valuable and beautiful place.


Link to an update of SOCO and Virunga:

http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=2&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=0CCYQFjAB&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwwf.panda.org%2F%3F223211%2FOil-company-Soco-not-to-drill-in-Virunga-World-Heritage-Site&ei=gQ4LVb3bL8TkoASq44LACw&usg=AFQjCNFe5_CdQtlyrZFdewADJsI4SqpF_w&sig2=gXt2RIB0FFukXl1vC7hRIg