Search - Africa Blood and Guts on DVD

Africa Blood and Guts (aka "Africa Addio")

deltapolis | Cape Town, South Africa | 02/24/2001

(5 out of 5 stars)

"The original Italian title "Africa Addio..!" (Goodbye Africa..!) is a far more appropriate one, though there is plenty of blood...ie, real fresh blood in this frequently gory, sometimes stunningly beautiful, and always highly controversial and terribly sad tale of the immediate aftermath of colonial rule in Africa. This moving documentary has been censored by the politically-correct thought-police for so many years that many of those now watching it for the first time may be inclined to say something like - "Gee, those days (the mid-60's)was a horrible time to be in Africa..." They would be both right and wrong because since then Africa has gone from bad to worse and even worse than you can imagine. The on the spot scenes of the terrible slaughter of the former overlords of Zanzibar - the Arab and Persian communities can never be forgotten...except of course they have been. Today there is enough material available to make a new version of "Africa Addio" every week. But dont hold your breath because it has been decreed by the faceless ones that ordinary people like you and I should not be allowed to see it. To say that the most remarkable feature of this movie is that nobody has dared (in both senses - ie, the physical danger and the social ostracism )to do it again is to downplay the often stunning photography, especially the wildlife scenes which are as good as if not better than others of that genre. An especially poignant scene was that of a beautiful fresh-faced blonde girl silhoutted against a huge setting sun as her and her family together with their few salvaged possessions trekked on horseback out of their Kenyan home to...who knows where..? Perhaps south to (the former) Rhodesia where no doubt some years later they were again forced south finally perhaps to South Africa and eventually back to the Cape of Good Hope where their Boer ancestors had begun their northward trek 150 years earlier. The producers (Franco & Jacopetti Prosperi of "Mondo Cane" fame) performed the cardinal sin of making white-ruled South Africa look like paradise on earth. But then they, unlike the critics had seen and compared both. If you are at all interested in Africa, give yourself an education and watch this thought-provoking film. HEALTH WARNING - Not for the faint-hearted or the politically-correct."

Africa Addio - Bloodily Gutted

Mondo Vendo | Detroit, Michigan USA | 05/08/2005

(1 out of 5 stars)

"If you have interest in this film, get the Blue Underground Mondo Cane Box Set (provided it is still available).

Africa, Blood and Guts is a butchered version of Africa Addio which you should get instead. It is a 5 star film and one of the best (if not the best) documentary films ever made.

It was created by Jacopetti and Prosperi who are responsible for the Mondo Cane films. Jacopetti heard of the many extreme changes and events occuring in Africa as the British left. His opinion was that the current culture of Africa at that time was being permanently altered with the combination of both the fighting caused by the vacuum of lost British power and the increasing modern influences.

They traveled all around Africa documenting the very light hearted as well as filming scenes where people were killed in front of them.

Africa, Blood and Guts is a butchered cut of Africa Addio edited by foreign distributors interested only in the growing mondo shockumentary market inspired by the Mondo Cane films though resented by Jacopetti and Prosperi.

If you have no opportunity to get Africa Addio, then maybe this would still be 4 or 5 stars. But with the full movie available, there is no purpose for this altered version.

GET AFRICA ADDIO!"

Goodbye, 50 Minutes

Jonathan Schaper | London, Ontario Canada | 03/07/2004

(2 out of 5 stars)

"Africa Blood and Guts is Africa Addio with 50 of its 138 minutes cut out of it. The people responsible for Mondo Cane went into Africa in the 1960s to record the chaos that ensued after European colonialists began to withdraw after exploiting its people and resources for years. Africa Addio is still one of the most powerful and shocking documentaries ever made, and is still pertinent (those responsible for screwing up Iraq should take note of its lessons). Distributor Jerry Gross took the original film, stripped it of all its historical context and political savvy, and released what is basically just a gross-out film under the more sensational title "Africa Blood and Guts".Blue Underground has released the uncut Africa Addio in its uncut version as part of the Mondo Cane collection. Get that instead if you can."

The apparently lost Africa Addio

Dennis Atkinson | Michihan | 02/07/2003

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Africa Addio is one of the greatest achievements of documentary film making. It presented a balanced view of the white and black situation in Africa. But beware the picture was reedited for reissue with Sweet Sweetbacks Bad Song. It was redited and they totally destroyed the delicate balance of the original to pander to the urban black audiences. This is the version that seems to be available today. What a shame and an insult to two great film makers."