an ambitious but ultimately ineffective debut endeavor.

The movie's neither hopeful in contrived ways, nor hopeless in different contrived ways. Somehow it manages to be wonderful

I didn’t really have many expectations going into the movie (good or bad), but I actually really enjoyed it. I really liked the characters and the banter between them.

Close shines in drama with strong language, adult themes.

This film is an uneasy time capsule. While the early narration clearly bemoans the end of Colonialism in Africa, the 135 minutes of footage that follows clearly justifies the stance of the filmmakers on that point. Basically it says that the handover comes too soon, before Africans are truly ready to rule themselves effectively.This film chronicles the handover of power in several former Colonies, chiefly Tanzania and Kenya, but also a few others. It contains authentic footage of Uhuru rallies, the trials and aftermaths of the Mau-Mau revolutionary movement, and the countless slaughter of both animals and humans alike. In particular, the revolution in Zanzibar under John Okello, and the resulting massacre of some 5000 Arab men, women, and children is clearly exposed, with scenes of mass shootings, mass graves, truckloads of bodies, and beaches littered with corpses as far as the camera can see.Filmed to shock? Maybe, but then again this really happened on the Dark Continent. The film is not without humor however, in particular one scene where an aspiring African politician makes his case to a bunch of tribal people with his bullhorn mounted to the back of a donkey, while a herd of goats knocks over his microphone into the mud. But images like this fade quickly when the viewer watches miles and miles of animal bones and carcasses littering the landscape, hunters killing elephants with the aid of helicopter terrorism, and Belgian paratroopers who execute people on camera in an effort to save a group of missionaries.All in all this is a very important film for anyone interested in how the current state of affairs in Africa got their beginnings. Blame is squarely placed on both the colonial powers, and the new African rulers for failure to effect a proper transfer of power. This version of the film is available in both the Mondo Cane box set, and the far cheaper(in price) two-disc Shocumentary Extreme collection from Blue Underground.

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.

Yes, this is real. At least the visual part. Some of the voice-over was changed in editing. Whether the intent was to make it more horrifying or to justify some of the scenes, I'm not sure.The massacre scenes and the Stanleyville battle will be hard to watch.The narrator sounded like he was seeing this for the first time as he was narrating. The shock was plain. But then that was the point.Beware of early vids that are missing 20-30 minutes of footage.I don't think the filmmakers meant to take sides here. Although I get the impression the hunting scenes were the main reason for filming. They just seemed to find out about certain other events and jumped on it.

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.