World Food Issues Movie Report 20 pts

Watch a movie relevant to world hunger and write a two-page typed (double spaced) report on it.  

What to watch:  Your movie can be a feature film (like Hotel Rwanda, Blood Diamond, or Gandhi) or a documentary (like An Inconvenient Truth).    It can be set in the present or in the past.  You can watch the movie in the theatre, on television, or on a DVD or video.  The ISU library has a large collection of feature films and documentaries available for viewing free of charge.  There are many movies that have relevance to world poverty and hunger.  Almost any movie whose focus is an impoverished developing nation will work, even if the story is mostly about the elite and powerful in that nation, rather than the poor.   There is a wide latitude in what you can pick that will inform you about the world, and those who are least powerful: the poor in developing nations.

Your report: Briefly outline the movie but primarily focus on issues of hunger and poverty revealed in the movie.  Who was poor and hungry and why?  Were they “invisible” to the main characters in your movie? How was political and economic power denied to the poor via land ownership, employment opportunities, slavery, war, conquest, genocide, repression, etc?   Who controlled agriculture, industry, the ability to make a living?  How did women fare?  The environment?  How did religion or ideology play a role?  How did the government play a role? What historical implications, or implications for the future did your movie reveal?  Analyze the ethical implications of these issues. Use at least 2 scholarly references about the place/time/issues depicted in the movie to back up your analysis (hint: you can find scholarly references at Google Scholar). What was your reaction to what you saw?  What did you learn?  Do you agree with the point of view of the movie?  Do you recommend the movie?

A few movie suggestions:

Hotel Rwanda – Surviving genocide in Rwanda
Blood Diamond – Conflict Diamonds in Sierra Leone
The Constant Gardener – Corporate exploitation in Kenya
The Last King of Scotland – Idi Amin’s corrupt rule in Uganda
Gandhi – Gandhi and the end of colonial rule in India
An Inconvenient Truth -- Al Gore on global warming

Grading Rubric:
A:  Well-written and thoughtful presentation and analysis of the film and its implications to the interrelated subjects of the class: poverty, malnutrition, economic and political inequity, women’s status, environment, religion, ethics, history, etc.  A strong ethical analysis of the issues.  Excellent references.
B:  Good presentation and analysis of the film and its implications to the interrelated subjects of the class: poverty, malnutrition, economic and political inequity, women’s status, environment, religion, ethics, history, etc.  Good ethical analysis of the issues.  Good references.
C: Adequate presentation and analysis of the film and its implications to the interrelated subjects of the class: poverty, malnutrition, economic and political inequity, women’s status, environment, religion, ethics, history, etc.  Ethical analysis of the issues.  References.