ambienthound I have a complicated love-hate relationship with this film, "Africa Addio" (marketed in the United States as Africa Blood and Guts). On the one hand, this film contains so many obviously staged and unresearched moments for dramatic effect (the announcer seems to be unable to tell the difference between a stork and a vulture). I can't say I agree with Roger Ebert's famous claim that this film is racist through and through: while it does harp on a paternalistic relationship between Africa and Europe that so many colonialist powers claimed was necessary for Africa, this film takes some care to point out that the whites have reaped what they sowed with regards to colonial violence over the past 150 years. Other scenes seem to be mocking both whites and blacks in Africa and often I found the line between who is being mocked to be very blurred. For example, one scene depicts an African boy running from white hunters with a piece of fox meat tied to him in order to give the thrill of English fox hunting in Africa. Who seems to be being mocked here: the poor African boy used as bait for hounds or the ridiculous whites who would fly in fox meat for such a special occasion? Despite this, many of the film's most powerful messages are about the endangerment of animals in Africa, which remains a problem to this day. The camera documents the sport killing of zebras, the wholesale slaughter of hippos for a meat market, and a particularly gruesome scene of an elephant being speared to death. These scenes serve as a reminder about the problems of conservation and poaching of African animals. Indeed, some of the narrator voice-overs in these segments was informative and educational to a degree.I rate this film so low because so many of the scenes were obviously either faked or endangered the lives of others for such a cheap shockumentary. I found myself being incredibly bored during long segments of voice-overs for people turned around or the awkward white stripper scene. Of particular concern is the scene where the directors send a plane of Germans ahead of them to the island they plan to document a mass killing on; the Germans are promptly dragged from their plane upon landing and their plane burned. The only note we get on the is the narrator saying, "At least they are alive!" Whether this was staged or the directors actually used these Germans to test the waters speaks to the lengths this film is willing to go for cheap documentation of horrors. Rather than offering up insight into the situation and cruelty of Africa, this film merely presents it as a sideshow for people to see at their leisure.

imbluzclooby Africa Addio is an enlightening and shocking documentary that took three years to complete. However, the film's back story can date back for two centuries explicating the rise of industrialization and human progress to the indefinite ruin of a continent that seemingly had enormous potential. I love this film. It is grainy, gritty and commits to its intentions with intrepidity.Many of the film's detractors have expressed their weak arguments of hurling accusations of racism, staging and dishonesty. These critics are far from correct an all three indictments. Africa Addio discursively shows how a talented group of European settlers, with enterprising and humanistic intentions, developed nations in Africa. They served as benefactors to the savage Negroes and allowed them to work and partake in their culture on the white man's terms. Africa Addio begins where we see apartheid ending. However, this process of eliminating apartheid would continue to disseminate for a couple more decades. I doubt many of the scenes were staged, but when making films, even documentaries, a director with a mission and incisive viewpoint wants to convey a particular idea. The idea here is that Negroes are savage and uncivilized beasts that cannot be trusted if left to their own devices. We can debate for hours whether or not White colonization was morally right or wrong, but we must also admit that the racial differences is what leads to the downfall of both white and black. Africa Addio does a compelling job at ennobling whites as an intelligent, beautiful and prosperous people that engendered too much trust and compassion for a very feral race unsuited for Western law. Africa Addio is a controversial documentary due to its divisive content. If you are racially sensitive or too politically correct to open your mind to fact and reality, then this film is best to be avoided. But I sincerely admire this film for its courage to dwell in hostile environments where one's life is highly at risk.

haildevilman 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.

petteri-kalliomaki I was shocked by the user comments! Why is this film considered as a remarkable documentary? It is nothing but an ultimate exploitation piece that tries to show as many bloody bodies as possible while traveling around the continent. Think about it: a film exploiting real human suffering. Besides, as it is told by a German professional soldier Kongo-Müller in a truly remarkable documentary Der lachende Mann (1965), there were actually people executed in front of the cameras just because of this film.This film lacks about everything that has anything to do with moral or ethics - or humanity. It is made with style, and it makes the viewer believe that there is a message or even a heart in it. In many ways, this is a very dangerous film.