AFRICA ADDIO
- Director: Gualtiero Jacopetti / Franco Prosperi
- Year: 1966
| Another infamous mish mash mondo thing that runs for over two hours and looks like a National Geographic shock sampler. Supposedly, it’s a love story, a farewell tale of Africa coming of age, out with the old and in with the new and that sort of stuff, but don’t be fooled. It’s footage stuck together by the action camera of ‘socially concerned’ Prosperi and friends - the fine people that hot wired the whole ‘Mondo’ movement with Mondo Cane (62). Say “Addio” to Africa, and another “Hello” to buck toothed people, food fights, beauty contests, propaganda shots, scathing rascist statements, awful dubbing, Mau-Mau bandits, cow carving, zebra tripping, elephant shooting, animal spearing (as used in Savage Man Savage Beast -69), crocodile catching, body fishing, corpses, graveyards, mass genocide, surfing!?, jazz playing Zulu’s, up close and real executions, scary race riots, beer spills and diamonds. Finally, it quits with a shot of penguins. It barks with a time-locked social accent and most of the segments are too bleak and mean when compared compared to other Mondo pics as it’s a ‘serious’ historical document and puposely non- exploitive. Scum fans in search of just the gross stuff can watch the espresso version released in the U.S.A as Africa Blood and Guts. |  |
