Adieu Afrique

I watched this film last month and I was blown away. In the documentary form, some film makers use a narrator while others let the subjects tell the story in their own words. This film uses bold and dynamic cinematography to tell this gripping and sadly true tale in a way more powerful than any other narrative format. This movie was filmed using a variety of 16mm and 35mm motion pictures cameras. Virtually all of the shots are hand held and I was not surprised to later learn the the Director of Photography was awarded an Oscar for one of his previous works. I spent the summer of 2002 touring Africa and I stayed in a few of the locations shown in this film. I was amazed to see the splendor of the cities in this film which stood in stark contrast to the squalid ruins I witness less than forty years after this masterpiece was made. It was amazing to see how beautiful and vibrant these areas once were. Now it's a wasteland were life is both short and very cheap. This film is pure genius. It also represents a cautionary tale to other peoples of what can happen when the political and economic stability of a society dissipates. Also, one can't help but realize the severe consequences visited upon those naive souls who traded their prosperity, freedoms and security with the avid encouragement of those lefty do-gooders who led them down the path of ruin in the name of "casting away the chains of imperialism." After the continent imploded, these would be social engineers disappeared in the dark of night returning to their homes in London, New York and Paris to see what other societies they could ruin with their idealogical snake oil. They, by default, left to other the impossible task of cleaning up their mess.

The democracy our hapless African brothers and sisters thought they would receive never materialized and when their paternalistic European guardians left, most of these people suffered under the most brutal forms totalitarianism, crime, starvation and tribal genocide. They jumped blindfolded from their frying pans and landed in the fire. Would anyone dare say they are better off today then they were forty years ago? Food for thought.

Look, I get it. I know this film is-if not outright racist-from a decidedly colonial point of view. I know that shots in it are inaccurate or staged. I know that ten minutes of Africa Addio consists of women in bikinis bouncing on trampolines in slow motion. I get it.

But there are so many scenes from this film that stick with me.

In one, two jeeps race through the Savana with a rope tied between them. They are using the rope to mow down a heard of galloping Zebra. It is shocking, even in the age of Youtube. And yet, at the same time, it is beautifully filmed. It is horrible and yet you can't stop watching.

Honestly, Mondo Cane 1+2 along with Africa Addio have some of the best cinematography of the 1960s. The colors, framing, and composition is sublime. And I love how they play around various effects such as zooms and fisheye lenses. Many shots are handheld, which gives them an intimacy that feels very modern. Almost all Mondo spin offs got this wrong. They thought they could just toss together some uninspired shots of sex and gore. Africa Addio has sex and gore, but it makes its sex and gore into art.

Another scene in the film shows the aftermath of what is today known as the Zanzibar Revolution. From a helicopter, we see a compound full of people waving for help. The next day, we return. Now the compound is full of bodies. I've seen the aftermath of genocides in the news but this felt different. The before and after. The non-BBC style narration. It felt more authentic in some strange way. It's crazy that these shots are some of the only photographic evidence of the genocide. It's crazy that such an event was only captured by a Mondo film.

Africa Addio is undoubtably an achievement. This film managed to capture select glimpses of a world that no longer exists. And it did so in a beautiful way. Today we can overlook much of what was once considered most shocking in the film and see it as a unique work of art.

And yet, it must be said that Africa Addio is also a dangerous film. I know that the film's narrative, combined with its many powerful visual, could easily reenforce racist views. The film is dangerous if for no other reason than there's far, far more to Africa than what it presents. For this reason, I personally do not think of it as a documentary even though it consists of real footage.

I can only recommend Africa Addio to film buffs. For would be connoisseurs of exploration like myself, it is a true gem. If however you are just searching for a fun watch-or worse, looking for a documentary-look elsewhere.

Africa Addio, is an Italian film with English subtitles. The film is a documentary about Africa, including scenes of animals being poached, a civil war and a revolution and a bunch of tribes being slaughtered. The film came out in Italy in 1966 and then came to North America in 1970 entitled Africa: Blood And Guts, and had 37 minutes cut from it's running time. Winner of The David Award for Best Production at The David Di Donatello Awards. The version I saw of the film was the 139 minute director's cut. The film is a very good looking film with great cinematography and production design. The film is also very interesting and is very powerful and disturbing with some of the images it shows us. After awhile the film started to feel long though and felt like it dragged on a little bit too much the last half hour or so. Some parts were also a little confusing but generally this is an entertaining, interesting and powerful film that is just as shocking now as it was in the 60's.

Quite the conundrum, 80% of the comments focus only on the violence, which is extreme and relentless at times. It should also be noted that the film clocks in at 2 hours and 20 minutes, and, there is a whole other world being presented when the violence stops. Quite simply, the cinematography will knock your socks off; we're talking major motion picture stuff with an original score that keeps evolving and is quite breathtaking(i still haven't seen this on a big screen but, wow). Speaking of breathtaking, visually this film is a feast for the eyes, it's hard to believe at times that i'm watching a documentary; a documentary that will open you up and get inside you and everyone that sees it, with no pun intended and no shame. As someone else said here, it is 'an uneasy time capsule'. The brutality, perfectly balanced with tender and profound beauty. Real situations balanced with oddity and humor.

I mean, the directors won an Oscar for cinematography just before this and at one part of the film they are a breath away from being executed, only to be saved by an officer who points out that they are Italian. Now in 2009, and every day forward until the end of civilization, this collection of moving pictures becomes more and more potent, gaining credence with every new low that so-called 'modern' humanity sinks to, with the temporal yet exquisite fruits of it's labor always just out of reach of the masses. AN ABSOLUTE MUST SEE

This is a very well done documentary. But what it shows will mortify you. I was yelling at the screen.

The atrocities against the animals in this documentary absolutely made me sick. Animals are slaughtered relentlessly, cruelly and for no reason other than the sport of it. I wanted those wild animals to rip their killers to shreds. At least once it would have been nice to see one of the poachers ripped to shreds by the elephants, lions and hippos.

It never ceases to sicken me how a man with a gun thinks he has really accomplished something by shooting an animal. Watching the men stand proudly with their gun over the carcass of an animal for a photo just makes me sick. They should all have been fed to the lions.

This documentary proves one thing and one thing only. Humans are the sickest and cruelest animals on the planet.