Africa Blood and Guts

AFRICA ADDIO (1966) is a difficult work to evaluate. Released at a time when most major media resources were focused on the Vietnam War, co-directors Gualtiero Jacopetti and Franco Prosperi were among a very, very small group of people documenting the unrest which accompanied the decolonization of Africa. More than 50 years after its release, this is still a brutally graphic film: human death is captured on camera, up-close and unsimulated; hippopotami and elephants are attacked with spears until they resemble living pin-cushions, only expiring after suffering prolonged and agonizing brutality; human remains litter rural fields and city streets like so much discarded waste. There are several scenes where the audio appears to be altered to p...

Although its tongue is in its cheek for too much of this and the narrative can be all over the place at times, this is still quite an harrowing chronology of post-colonial Africa thats occasionally quite a difficult film to watch. We start off with the departure of the British from Tanganyika and then follow just how the indigenous population attempted to build on the promise of uhuru. This is no easy task, as pretty swiftly tribal vendettas that had been suppressed by the limited forces of law and order gave way to those seeking revenge in as brutal a way as a camera can depict. Neither man nor beast was safe from retribution and many of the politicians who promised the earth were soon, quite literally, pushing up the daisies from six feet...