"Black Gold": Looking for truth in our cup of joe

Two billion coffee servings are consumed around the world every day, according to "Black Gold," a mesmerizing documentary illuminating the human element in one corner of modern global trade.

Some of that coffee, the film continues, comes from Ethiopia, the largest producer of coffee beans in Africa. Fifteen million Ethiopians, many surviving on international emergency aid, depend on bean farming.

While coffee sold at the retail level, mostly in developed countries, is a $30 billion industry, Ethiopian coffee farmers literally see pennies for their crop.

Something is obviously wrong with this picture, as drawn by filmmakers Marc and Nick Francis.

Movie review

Showtimes and trailer

"Black Gold," a documentary with Tadesse Meskela. Written and directed by Marc and Nick Francis. 77 minutes. Not rated; some images of impoverishment and malnutrition. In various languages, with English subtitles as needed. Metro, Lincoln Square Cinemas.

"Black Gold" traces the trade route of Ethiopian beans through various middlemen to your friendly neighborhood cafe or supermarket shelves. Along the way, it demonstrates how sundry buyers, roasters and multinational corporations (all of whom refused interviews) such as Sara Lee, Kraft, Procter & Gamble and, yes, Starbucks, make vast amounts of gross earnings compared with the farmers' take. (Though that doesn't necessarily mean somebody along the buying-and-selling chain isn't operating at a loss.)

The co-directors make their point, and even expand it to talk about a general trade crisis in developing countries, with a restrained tone. The film even has a hero no one, not even the most ardent defender of the World Trade Organization, could dislike: Tadesse Meskela, the tireless director of the Oromia Coffee Farmers Cooperative Union.

Soft-spoken Meskela represents Ethiopian coffee farmers. His union bypasses the first levels of bean buyers (who choke off a competitive and fair price paid to growers) to negotiate directly with importers.

"Black Gold" is an economics lesson, but hardly dull. The film helps one remember that a cup of coffee from the corner shop might perk up one's afternoon, but possibly so on the backs of starving families a world away.

Tom Keogh: tomwkeogh@yahoo.com