Adieu Afrique

This is the ONLY example of which I'm aware where the complete loss of a film is ignored by all media and critics. I saw this documentary on its original release in, I believe, 1967. It was very disturbing because of the miles of animal bones and bodies it displayed. It squarely placed the blame on both the whites AND the black native inhabitants. And the latter is, imho, the reason this film has disappeared. You can't find the lousiest, most edited version, let alone the original. And this movie was made by Academy Award winners for an earlier foreign film, so it's not like it was just a throwaway cheepie.

Sent to Africa to make the next Mondo Cane movie the film makers found themselves in the middle of several revolutions. What they would film would form the basis of a damning attack on everyone, both black and white, involved in the shift in power on the Dark Continent.

I've watched the three versions of this film and I'm a fan of all of them. Interestingly the one I like the least is the original cut of the film which has several snide comments and re-dubbed voices that make the film truly rude and cruel for no good reason. The original cut goes out of its way to have a holier than thou view that is missing from both of the English cuts. The original cut also has several more minutes of animal cruelty that is completely uncalled for.

This film ran into serious trouble upon its original release because charges were brought, though later found to be false, that the film makers had paid some of the soldiers to kill some one so that they could film it. (this charge would form the basis for The Wild Eye, a fictional film about the making of a mondo movie made by another Mondo Cane director) Considering all of the the death and destruction in this film I find it hard to believe that anyone would have had to have been paid to kill anyone.

Yes, its a tough film, but it leaves no one with clean hands, even the film makers.

See this film. It will make you think.

Poachers mindlessly killing game for fun and profit. Hands being chopped off a la Colonial Congo. Arabs being massacred on mass during the Zanzibar revolution. Simba rebels killing and being executed in return. White mercenaries fighting in the Congo.

All of these things, and many more, are followed by this classic Mondo film. It's flawed (its narrative is shamelessly colonialist, avoiding all the atrocities that the colonizers committed and the actual causes for nationalism that led to these tragedies), but this is Heart of Darkness for the film generation: It is a glimpse into the worst that Africa has to offer, and nobody comes out looking good.

Highly recommended, if you got the stomach to watch some of the most senseless butchery ever recorded on film. If only these guys had done Vietnam.

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.

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.