''Big Men'' is a 2014

documentary film A documentary film or documentary is a non-fictional film, motion-picture intended to "document reality, primarily for the purposes of instruction, education or maintaining a Recorded history, historical record". Bill Nichols (film critic), Bil ...

produced and directed by

Rachel Boynton Rachel () was a Biblical figure, the favorite of Jacob's two wives, and the mother of Joseph and Benjamin, two of the twelve progenitors of the tribes of Israel. Rachel's father was Laban. Her older sister was Leah, Jacob's first wife. Her aunt ...

. It examines the oil industry, the development of a new oil field in

West Africa West Africa or Western Africa is the westernmost region of Africa. The United Nations defines Western Africa as the 16 countries of Benin, Burkina Faso, Cape Verde, The Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Ivory Coast, Liberia, Mali, Maurit ...

, the accusations of

corruption Corruption is a form of dishonesty or a criminal offense which is undertaken by a person or an organization which is entrusted in a position of authority, in order to acquire illicit benefits or abuse power for one's personal gain. Corruption m ...

that follow, and the

resource curse The resource curse, also known as the paradox of plenty or the poverty paradox, is the phenomenon of countries with an abundance of natural resources (such as fossil fuels and certain minerals) having less economic growth, less democracy, or worse ...

. The film follows Texas-based

Kosmos Energy Kosmos Energy is an American upstream oil company founded and based in Dallas, Texas. While previously incorporated in Bermuda, Kosmos has reincorporated in Delaware. The company holds production and development operations offshore Ghana, Equato ...

as it attempts to start oil production in the new Jubilee Field off the coast of

Ghana Ghana (; tw, Gaana, ee, Gana), officially the Republic of Ghana, is a country in West Africa. It abuts the Gulf of Guinea and the Atlantic Ocean to the south, sharing borders with Ivory Coast in the west, Burkina Faso in the north, and To ...

. With huge amounts of money at stake, Kosmos juggles its partners in Ghana, financial backers in New York, and the Great Recession that dramatically reduces oil prices. The film also visits Nigeria's oil-rich

Niger Delta The Niger Delta is the delta of the Niger River sitting directly on the Gulf of Guinea on the Atlantic Ocean in Nigeria. It is located within nine coastal southern Nigerian states, which include: all six states from the South South geopolitical ...

, where decades of corruption and lack of development fuel militants, who attempt to gain a share of the oil pie. The film was released on March 14, 2014, to critical acclaim.

Production

The crew filmed between 2007 and 2011, in

and

Nigeria Nigeria ( ), , ig, Naìjíríyà, yo, Nàìjíríà, pcm, Naijá , ff, Naajeeriya, kcg, Naijeriya officially the Federal Republic of Nigeria, is a country in West Africa. It is situated between the Sahel to the north and the Gulf o ...

Reception

''Big Men'' was acclaimed by critics. It holds a 90/100 on

Metacritic Metacritic is a website that review aggregator, aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted arithmetic mean, weighted average). M ...

and a 100% rating on

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wang ...

. In ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

'', Jeannette Catsoulis wrote that "this cool and incisive snapshot of global capitalism at work is as remarkable for its access as for its refusal to judge." Alan Scherstuhl of ''

The Village Voice ''The Village Voice'' is an American news and culture paper, known for being the country's first alternative newsweekly. Founded in 1955 by Dan Wolf, Ed Fancher, John Wilcock, and Norman Mailer, the ''Voice'' began as a platform for the crea ...

'' opined that the film "is no simple screed against tick-like profiteers growing fat on malnourished hosts," but instead "a richly detailed portrait". In ''

The Washington Post ''The Washington Post'' (also known as the ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'') is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C. It is the most widely circulated newspaper within the Washington metropolitan area and has a large nati ...

'', Stephanie Merry argued, "Boynton’s most impressive feat in 'Big Men' is how she takes an impossibly convoluted scenario, makes sense of it and tells a story that's riveting on its own but also serves as a parable about greed and human nature."

References

External links

* 2014 films 2014 documentary films Films shot in Ghana Films shot in Nigeria Documentary films about petroleum Documentary films about Africa Documentary films about crime American documentary films British documentary films Danish documentary films 2010s English-language films 2010s American films 2010s British films {{environment-documentary-film-stub