I wrote about this documentary “An African Election” last May when I saw it and talked with its director, Jarreth Merz, at the Seattle International Film Festival.
It’s an amazing film and it’s finally available on Netflix. I highly recommend it. As I wrote about it last year:
The movie is about a power struggle, a struggle for democracy, in the fairly stable and economically rising West African nation of Ghana. Contrary to what you might expect from its title (and your preconceptions about African politics), it’s not really an expose of corrupt politicians or another one of those films that makes you feel hopeless about Africa.
On the contrary; this film inspires!
It is a gritty look at African politics in action, and at a hard-won African success story. It gives you great hope for Africa, and perhaps even that Americans will someday feel as passionate about freedom and democracy.
Here is a list of this and three other African films of note at LA’s Pan African Film and Arts Festival from ONE.
Wow, I wish I could have alerted everyone I know to go see this documentary. I saw it last week (on its final day) at the Seattle International Film Festival. I hope it sees wide distribution soon.
The film is An African Election. You and your friends should request it on Netflix and press for U.S. distribution. It’s amazing.
The movie is about a power struggle, a struggle for democracy, in the fairly stable and economically rising West African nation of Ghana.
Contrary to what you might expect from its title (and your preconceptions about African politics), it’s not really an expose of corrupt politicians or another one of those films that makes you feel hopeless about Africa.
The election does turn out to be a messy business, with hints of corruption and attempted vote-rigging (kind of like a smaller, African version of Bush v Gore 2000), but An African Election ends up being one of the most thrilling, visceral and inspiring movies about politics I have ever seen.
It’s a success story. It makes you believe in democracy again.
Here’s a trailer:
The film was directed by Jarreth Merz, a Swiss born actor, director and producer who grew up in Ghana, Germany and Switzerland and speaks five languages fluently. I talked with Merz briefly at the Harvard Exit theater. He initially sought to document the 2008 Ghanaian presidential election and had no idea that his film would take on the qualities of a Hollywood thriller.
“Frankly, I thought it could be boring,” Merz said. Originally, he and his crew just figured it would be an informative documentary about one African nation where political stability today is the norm. “But then things started heating up… It was pretty hairy at times.”
I won’t go into the details. Suffice it to say I guarantee you will not be bored. Merz and his crew’s view of the power struggle was both on the streets and within the inner sanctum. At one point in the film, you can truly feel what it is like to be poised on the cliff edge of a civil war. It’s intense.
“Ghanaians have a very acute sense of politics,” said Merz. Ghana was the first African colonial state to gain independence in 1957, he said, and are avid protectors of their democracy.
Go see An African Election. Maybe it will even make us into avid protectors of our democracy.
NOTE: Merz says it will be released theatrically in Britain next fall. Educational institutions can request it through the Cinema Guild. But the best bet is for you to start making noise about wanting it released in the U.S. on Netflix, Facebook or whatever.
Americans are impatient people. We believe in change.
Europeans like tradition, consistency. Not us.
Others around the world may see our electoral swings as an indication of fickleness, attention deficit disorder or just ignorance. But you could also see it as a celebration of creative destruction. Most of us don’t self-identify as loyal Democrats or Republicans. We expect a lot and bolt when we don’t get it.
People were sick of Clinton and voted in another Bush. People got sick of Bush and voted in Obama. Now, sick of Obama, lots of folks are voting in people who identify strongly with a popular herb (no, I mean tea!).
Foreign aid was not an issue in this election. It hasn’t ever been high on our nation’s political radar screen and so it’s no surprise little is being said about the impact these elections may have on the Obama Administration’s approach to foreign affairs.
But our latest twist in the political winds does have implications for foreign policy and, by implication, perhaps for the new initiatives the Obama Administration has launched in global health and development. Here’s what some are saying: Continue reading →
