I just followed The Last King of Scotland with Hotel Rwanda. Like The Last King of Scotland, Hotel Rwanda shows the beauty, affluence and appeal to Western tourists that African countries can possess. Unfortunately, it also shows the impact of mass-killings and the lack of intervention by those same Western countries.
Unlike The Last King of Scotland, Hotel Rwanda is told from the perspective of a local, in this case, hotel manager, Paul Rusesabagina, as played by Don Cheadle. The local perspective on the Hutu-Tutsi conflict avoids the patronizing white, Western perspective in The Last King of Scotland while showing that individuals such as Paul can successfully fight the good fight while chaos surrounds them.
If Hotel Rwanda were the only point of reference for Africa that you have, what conclusions would you draw? Depending on your experience with civil war, either you understand how two groups of people can turn on each other over time or it may baffle you. The lack of action by Western powers may frustrate you or may make frigidly cold sense. The main character, Paul, should inspire you - giving one faith in the African people to take care of themselves and each other despite their differences. As in The Last King of Scotland, this film probably doesn't do much for one's respect of African governments or armies. And it may even portray Paul as an aberration - that rare leader amidst the chaos - who works for the common good and succeeds.
How can I use Hotel Rwanda? Good question. I need to learn more about the tribal make-up of Botswana first. If there are multiple tribes and if it they get along it would be nice to show that they don't refer to each other as "cockroaches"; that Botswana's radio stations only incite people when soccer scores are given; and that violence is not the immediate and sole answer to the problems in society that arise.
On the Michigan side, a friend has lent me Sufjan Stevens' "Michigan: Greetings from the Great Lake State" which I'll take a listen to and see what I can glean from it.
Showing posts with label Last King of Scotland. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Last King of Scotland. Show all posts
Tuesday, June 10, 2008
Wednesday, June 4, 2008
The Last King of Scotland and the White Gaze
I watched The Last King of Scotland this past week - a film about the rise and ways of Idi Amin, president of Uganda from 1971 to 1979. While Uganda is a good distance from Botswana, I'd be naive to believe that all my readers are up on their African geography, culture, history and politics and that they may fudge together the various distinctions into one composite opinion.
And what, pray tell, would that opinion be if you've only seen this film? Hard to say. If one equates Amin with Africa according to this film, then the country is jocular, but also menacing; large and plentiful, but immature and inefficient; loyal, but suspicious. In the end, Amin's regime installed by Western powers bypasses democracy and kills approximately 300,000 of his own people - an all too often told tale for the dark continent so it would seem.
The story is told from the point of view of a young Scottish doctor who has traveled to Uganda to do good, only to become one of Amin's advisers. The story comes to a head when Amin proclaims himself the father of Uganda only for his white Western adviser to call him a child. I wonder how this story would be different if Ngugi had written the script.
I've been skeptical of the West's ability to tell other cultures how they're wrong and what they should do to correct their situation ever since reading Hernando de Soto's The Mystery of Capital: Why Capitalism Triumphs in the West and Fails Everywhere Else. In this book de Soto discusses how the West preached capitalism to former Communist countries (and South America) without taking into account the importance of the proper legal structure to support their new economies. This is kinda like telling someone to bake a cake, giving them pans, food and an oven, but not the recipe. I have a hard enough time with a recipe...
What does this film do for my book? Well, it reminds me that Western audiences still like to buy the African despot story rather than the Western stooge story. How can I use this to my advantage? Drop the occasional genocide joke, you say? Sure. Why not? Always fun to play on the naive assumptions of folks, ie that if you're not a dead African that you're a killer and incapable of being democratic. Then again, what good is democracy when the elected leader sees the vote of confidence as support for his/her will and not trust to do the will of the people?
And what, pray tell, would that opinion be if you've only seen this film? Hard to say. If one equates Amin with Africa according to this film, then the country is jocular, but also menacing; large and plentiful, but immature and inefficient; loyal, but suspicious. In the end, Amin's regime installed by Western powers bypasses democracy and kills approximately 300,000 of his own people - an all too often told tale for the dark continent so it would seem.
The story is told from the point of view of a young Scottish doctor who has traveled to Uganda to do good, only to become one of Amin's advisers. The story comes to a head when Amin proclaims himself the father of Uganda only for his white Western adviser to call him a child. I wonder how this story would be different if Ngugi had written the script.
I've been skeptical of the West's ability to tell other cultures how they're wrong and what they should do to correct their situation ever since reading Hernando de Soto's The Mystery of Capital: Why Capitalism Triumphs in the West and Fails Everywhere Else. In this book de Soto discusses how the West preached capitalism to former Communist countries (and South America) without taking into account the importance of the proper legal structure to support their new economies. This is kinda like telling someone to bake a cake, giving them pans, food and an oven, but not the recipe. I have a hard enough time with a recipe...
What does this film do for my book? Well, it reminds me that Western audiences still like to buy the African despot story rather than the Western stooge story. How can I use this to my advantage? Drop the occasional genocide joke, you say? Sure. Why not? Always fun to play on the naive assumptions of folks, ie that if you're not a dead African that you're a killer and incapable of being democratic. Then again, what good is democracy when the elected leader sees the vote of confidence as support for his/her will and not trust to do the will of the people?
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