Review Of The Documentary “The Dark Side Of Chocolate”

The Dark Side Of Chocolate is a documentary filmed by a Danish Journalist, Miki Mistarti. The 45-minute film investigates potential rumors of child trafficking in the Ivory Coast and its role in the worldwide chocolate industry. The Ivory Coast supplies over half of the world’s cocoa supply and has deep roots in the industry. Mistarti traveled with a small team to the Ivory Coast with a various supply of cameras and recording tools. After traveling around the land, Mistarti found it relatively easy to come across numerous trafficking situations. Evidence of child trafficking in specific cocoa farms was documented as well as interviews from children currently enslaved, children who previously escaped, and active traffickers. The evidence proving that child trafficking occurs in the industry began stacking up quickly. Ali Lakiss, the CEO of SAF-CACAO also called Choco Ivoire, was interviewed in the documentary and assured Mistarti that there were no children working anywhere in the chocolate industry and that there has been no evidence of such. Mistarti took it upon himself to travel to where the cocoa is harvested and recorded numerous children doing forced labor, many of which were carrying machetes. The film ended with Mistarti attempting to reach major chocolate companies such as Nestle, Cargill, and Mars. All of the companies refused to acknowledge the information presented. Mistarti’s final stand in the film was to project the documentary itself on a large screen across the street from Nestle’s corporate office.

The International Institue for Tropical Agriculture published the article, “Child Labor in the Cocoa Sector of West Africa,” in 2002 and noted that over 284,000 children in West Africa work in coco-a farms and over 200,000 of those children work just in the Ivory Coast. Chocolate is such a staple product all over the world and the industry is only growing. The areas of the world such as the Ivory Coast generally are extremly poverty-stricken and people often become desperate for jobs. Children under the age of 15 are not only being taken but are also offering themselves up in order to make a minute amount for their families. Cocoa farms benefit from this because they only have to pay their workers bare minimum if at all. The ethical view of those who partake in this child abuse as well as overlook it is cultural relativism. They are simply doing what the cultural norm is regardless of how immoral it may be.

Before watching this documentary I had no previous knowledge of child trafficking in the chocolate industry so my initial reaction was pure shock. The most concerning part of the entire film was seeing the interview between Mistarti and the child trafficker who appeared to show no remorse about his actions; He smiled and laughed off the situation. Trafficking in low-income areas, such as the Ivory Coast is so common that those who partake tend to normalize the situation. Overall, this is a highly concerning situation considering how large the chocolate industry is. People from all over the world consume and sell this chocolate with little to no knowledge on what goes on behind the scenes of the wrapping. This is information that I believe is essential for the entire world population to be aware of and make a movement to stop. Child slavery, abuse, and trafficking must be stopped and Mistarti’s documentary was a step in that direction.