Films A-Z
Good Fortune
Good Fortune
Landon Van Soest / USA, Kenya / 2009 / 73 min.
Landon van Soest's documentary looks at the plight of tens of thousands of Kenya's inhabitants who are afraid of losing their homes - regardless of whether these homes are in the slums of the poor Kibera quarter in the capital Nairobi, or the aluminium shacks of herdsmen in the Yala Swamp in the west of the country. Government-supported development projects have entered their lives, and these are playing into the hands of the rich and powerful. Residential housing in Kibera, which was originally intended for the poor, is occupied by government clerks or people who can afford to buy their own dwellings. Agricultural areas in west Kenya are dominated by rich "white men" from the USA, who want to grow rice, but don't consider the original inhabitants when they build dams and irrigate land. The stories of Silva, a midwife from Kibera, and Jackson, a farmer and teacher from Yala Swamp, lay bare the battles individuals have to wage against the political machine. Neither of them wants to give up, because their very survival is at stake. Fortune, however, does not smile on everyone?
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