African Movies
This past week I saw two powerful movies whose backdrop is the continent of Africa. The first, Tsotsi (Thug) is the South African film that took home the Oscar for best foreign language film this year. An incredible and moving tale of a young gangster 
named Tsotsi, living in the slums of Johannesburg who has become a hard and emotionaless shell of a human. In the midst of a car-jacking and shooting incident he finds out that his new BMW came with an infant. Hey, it's in the trailer so I don't feel like that needed a spoiler alert. The entrance of this infant into Tsotsi's life begins to break down walls that nothing could crack before. This was one of the most incredibly redemptive films I've seen in a very long time. This is one of the best films of the year period. It makes my top 3 of 2005 without a doubt.The Constant Gardener is set in Kenya, where British diplomat Justin Quayle, and his wife Tessa, are stationed. Like Tsosti, this film is set largely in the slums of a large African city. Tessa is murdered very early on in the
film and Justin sets out to find out why. As he digs deeper into the work Tessa was doing before she was killed he begins to uncover a pharmaceutical scandal. [spoiler alert] Companies were using HIV/AIDS medicine as leverage to make infected residents of the slums sign up for testing other medicines that hadn't been completed rather than going back to the drawing board and fixing their drugs. This film is a mix between a detective mystery and a love story, but what really stuck out to me were the scenes about the drug companies abuse of Africans. A very moving film for its love story, but downright depressing for its social commentary.Labels: Film
posted by Charlie at 9:16 PM
6 Comments:
Social commentary, huh?...have you heard anything about drug companies ACTUALLY doing things like this to impoverished Africans?
I haven't heard of actual drug companies doing exactly what the plot of Constant Gardener was centered around, but there are a few shorter scenes where a relief worker talks about drug companies dumping expired drugs into 3rd world countries, etc. I've read about those practices.
Charlie,
I'd like to recommend a third film about Africa while you are at it. The first commercial film ever produced in the Xosha language of the Zulu in South Africa is called "Yesterday". It is the story of a woman and her daughter who live in Rural South Africa. It is a beautufully filmed portrayal of rural life in SA and the extreme challenges and a mother's hope for a better future. Even the pacing of the film communicates African life.
I think this film should be screened on every college campus.
And in response to Kaz's question: Drug companies have definitely done shady things in Africa. For starters, HIV medications are only available in most cases because generic versions are being made in India, often illegally. The US drug companies will not make HIV meds available at cost while Africa is burning. One controversial theory of where HIV/AIDS came from is related to polio vaccine trials here in Congo that were haphazardly cross contaminated with trials in orangutans (the only other species known to have a retrovirus similar to HIV). I haven't seen The Constant Gardener, but when it comes to corruption and misdeeds, I'd guess that drug companies are knee deep in Africa.
Brian -- if you check back on this blog, I'd like to know where one can read about the HIV/AIDS source-theory you mentioned. Is this a published theory?
Also, thanks for the comments.
I watched these films with Charlie, being simultaneously captivated with the art and story-telling ... while being sickened at the poverty and underhanded greed with which I'm corporately associated as an American citizen. I appreciated your comment. I wanted to know whether or not this was a fictional conspiracy-theory or had some ties to reality. If you have direction to offer, I'd like to read more on these subjects.
Brian, good to hear from you bro! Thanks for the insights into African life. By the way, what blogging tool do you use? Where are you living right now?
Kaz, I'm not sure if you've seen The Constant Gardener but I think it was pretty obvious that they were trying to get us to ask deeper questions like "are drug companies really doing this?" Would you disagree? Also congrats for landing that drug company blog-lobbyist position ;)
Just wanted to chime in cuz I'm a dork like that...
...Brian is using Wordpress on a setup that Stephen Reinhardt made for him. It's pretty slick.
Peace,
Eric
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