It's entirely possible that sending the audience out feeling lousy was intentional

what a terribly boring film. I'm sorry but this is absolutely not deserving of best picture and will be forgotten quickly. Entertaining and engaging cinema? No. Nothing performances with flat faces and mistaking silence for subtlety.

An old-fashioned movie made with new-fashioned finesse.

An old-fashioned movie made with new-fashioned finesse.

I have to admit that I have been drinking coffee for forty years and I will be drinking coffee when I finally give up the ghost. I found this story to be so exciting, but also sad. I really enjoyed seeing the process of coffee growing, roasting and sale, but I was totally distressed at the fact that a cup of coffee sells for 25 times what the farmers in Ethopia get for growing it. It is further distressing that a small increase in the amount paid would make tremendous effect on their lives. They just want to educate their children and buy them a pair of shoes. Paying them a fair price would probably not increase what we pay for a pound of coffee in a measurable way, but it would make all the difference in the world to them. What is the alternative? They are now growing plants used as a narcotic in East Africa because they cannot get a fair price for coffee. The shame is not on them, but on us. This was a great film and the only criticism I could ever make about it was that it was not in Indonesia, where they make my favorite Sulawese coffee.

Agreeing with everything RKeller87 said, this movie shows both the mundane back-story of how coffee gets from the field to your cup but the heart-wrenching story of the growers who are between a rock and a hard place when selling their crops for less than they need to live on. And PLEASE don't say "Why don't they do something else for a living, or raise something else?" Their options are not as varied as yours are, my brother or sister, and when they do raise something else, it is not necessarily better for them in the long run. The Fair Trade movement is part of the solution to this problem, and I hope everyone who sees this film starts asking for and buying their own fair-trade coffee, tea, chocolate, and cocoa.

Black Gold doesn't shout at you, vilify any single corporation or government, or make you feel guilty about really liking coffee.It does, however, invite you to see a very nuanced and sensitive view of an entire economic and social system that isn't working very well. This isn't "the anti-Starbucks movie" a la Supersize Me. This is a movie that starts the conversation about our trade system and the West's relationship with countries that feed us. Black Gold makes you want to get involved or inform yourself but doesn't map out exactly how, leaving it up to you. It isn't narrated by any off-screen voice overs and doesn't tell you exactly what to think.I was fascinated to find out how coffee is grown and how small differences in price cause huge impact on farmers' families and communities. As a Washington, DC, resident I go out for Ethiopian food more than I order pizza, so I was glad to get a glimpse of what life is like in Ethiopia and how beautiful and lush the natural scenes are.Please go see it because it's really enjoyable and thoughtful -- a refreshing new model for how to make a documentary.

Black Gold is an astounding look at what it means for the powerful at WTO talks to set a price of $0.22 for a kilo of coffee on the world market.You might think this topic could grow dull, but it never does: The pairing of these stories and the well composed score keep you on edge throughout the film. The film follows a fellow who markets coffee from an Ethiopian collective, and his message is simple: Africans are not getting fairly compensated for their crops on the world market. Prices for their commodities are artificially low, keep Africans dependent on U.S. aid, and demean an entire people by not paying them what they are worth. It's not his impassioned words that haunt you, however, but instead the toddler girl who gets weighed -- and sent home with her mother and no help because she's only "semi-malnourished" and doesn't qualify for aid. It's the fellow hacking out an beautiful coffee patch to clear it for growing chat, a narcotic leaf that folks chew to feel better and that commands a higher income per acre than coffee. This documentary is definitely worth seeing if you are at all interested in how your cup of Starbucks got into your hand. Incidentally, this is destined to be a minor classic in food journalism as well -- it's a must-see for the conscientious omnivore.