In the year 2000, the President of Zimbabwe Robert Mugabe implemented a new set of laws which meant that white farm owners would have their land seized and redistributed to the black African majority. Many of these farms were taken by force and widespread intimidation was all too frequent behaviour in a country which had turned from a symbol of African post-colonial freedom to one of terrible dictatorship. One of the white farmers was Mike Campbell, who stood firm against any attempts to lose his property, which he had owned for over thirty years: he was even willing to take the Mugabe regime to court...
Mugabe and the White African presented as its subject matter an incredibly emotive subject, made all the more so as it was apparent the filmmakers had become very close to the people they were documenting. It is this which offers the real life drama we see an inescapably intimate quality, but also which left the directors open to criticism. After all when the country was Rhodesia it was no walk in the park for the black population under the white rulers, something this film cares not to admit, but which at least would have built up some sense of context as to why the idea of the whites owning the property they did was so controversial there.
On the other hand, the directors were on surer ground when lambasting the authorities for their open brutality. As much of Zimbabwe starved, Mugabe and his cronies ensured that their wealth and power not only increased but became harder to take away from them, and often it was through violence that they enforced this. Campbell and his son-in-law Ben Freeth have many horror stories to tell about the other white farm owners who have been chased from their homes and seen the land not given over to the "peasants", as they are called, but to the members of the corrupt government, their families, business associates, the military top brass, and even the odd girlfriend or two.
So the feelings of injustice go both ways here, with Mugabe and his cohorts shown up to be a pretty deplorable bunch. But Campbell and Freeth have an ace up their sleeve, and that is to appeal to the international courts, which they have to travel to Namibia to do; however there are impediments to their seeking of justice which means that the Zimbabwean government keep seeking postponements, presumably hoping the case will be put off so often that Campbell will have eventually been forced to leave by the thugs. Here the lawyer is obviously as emotionally involved as the directors found themselves, as she is seen breaking down more than once at the latest obstacle to justice.
The government evidently grow worried that Campbell has a very good case, because it is during one of these postponement periods that the thugs descend and abduct the farmer, Freeth and Campbell's wife, leaving them severely beaten, something which makes you sympathise with the victims all the more. We could have done without the constant heartstring-tugging music, as the facts speak for themselves, and as you can imagine do not depict Mugabe in an any way favourable light, but if the truth is murkier than the film has room to tell you, there's no way you can agree with the levels of threatening behaviour that were captured in this, and equally you admire the bravery of the undercover filming that occured under pain of violence - or worse - to the makers.
