Africa Blood and Guts

This 1966 film by Gualtiero Jacopetti and Franco Prosperi is assembled from footage shot in Africa during the years colonial rule was ending. Post-independence conflicts, events in Zanzibar and Kenya, the slaughter of animals and executions follow one another. It is the most contested example of the mondo genre and is watched today not as documentary but as a document of its own ideology. The narration openly implies that Africans cannot govern themselves, and because of that colonial framing the film has been charged with racism since the day it appeared. Parts of it were also alleged to have been arranged for the camera; Jacopetti stood trial in Italy over the claim that an execution was staged for filming and was acquitted. Who it's for: viewers who want to examine mondo cinema, documentary ethics and colonial representation historically. Who it's not for: anyone looking for a source of information, or unwilling to watch footage of real deaths; the film serves neither purpose.