Reviews

We have nothing to loos but our chains by Rob Lyons

On World Toilet Day, Spiked Online published this insightful review of the film and gave it the thumbs up for emphasising that universal access to sanitation is both possible and necessary.

 

Comments from the premiere

 

Below are some comments from members of the audience at the Flush it premiere, which was held at the Battle of Ideas festival on Sunday 2nd November 2008.

 

"A great film. It would be even better if aid institutions didn't keep telling us that people in the developing world have asked for holes in the ground. What a bizarre idea. Thank you WORLDwrite for reminding us that people everywhere want the same good things!!"

 

"The story was very well told. The main character Tiba told it how it is. The problem with development in the developing world is not to do with money or lack of resources. The problem is with our vision."

 

"There is so much I can say about this film. Very inspiring. I loved many parts of the film. What it boils down to is that people in the developing world don't want to be stationed over a hole while for many of us here our bathroom is a relaxing place of quality thinking time!"

 

"A very beautiful film and thoroughly researched, I'd like to see it on TV."

 

"For me, what the film highlighted was a very important question about the underlying assumptions about development or the lack of it. As the film reminds us, water is not a scarce resource and it can never run out. The problem is about access to clean water, hence developing the mechanisms and technology so that everyone around the world can have clean and plentiful water the way we do over here. So, most of the time, the excuse of resource shortages is not a reason for less development; it is a matter of vision and not real actual shortage."

 

"The use of bore holes in the developing world is not a 'cultural thing'. Well done WORLDwrite for pointing that out so beautifully!"

 

"On the 150th anniversary of the Great Stink, I cannot imagine life without a toilet. In 1858, people over here in London were dying of things like cholera and diarrhoea and now we never have to worry about that. It is a sad state of affairs that this is still a reality in the developing world 150 years later! The film tells us, quite magnificently, just how far we've come in only 150 years... lets have this for everyone."

 

"If we could revolutionise living conditions in just 150 years, I cannot begin to imagine the sort of world we could be living in in another 100 years time. This film inspires me to think about that instead of worrying about how the world might end in that time. Out with the culture of limits and in with the vision!"

 

"One of the best films I have seen in relation to development in Africa. People want an easy and good life no matter where they are in the world. WORLDwrite have done it again, opened our eyes to the obvious!"

 

"This film is a must for schools and colleges I would like all my students to see it."

 

"Its embarrassing to realise how wrong we are about water shortages."

 

"Africans are not born with a gene that makes them want to carry water on their head for miles or use disgusting outdoor holes. Flush It poignantly points out that we have the order wrong. We are not bound by our biology or environment. A really thought provoking film well done."

 

"I always have friends telling me that not all Africans aspire to Western or modern living standards. I will just tell them to watch Flush It."

 

"Very moving, love the musical interludes and the women in the toilet museum."