For fans of the first wave of "mondo" films this is actually pretty obscure and over the top stuff definitely worth seeing. For those not familiar with or interested in the genre, it seems like as good a place as any to start. Unlike some of the classic Italian-made "shocumentaries" of the early-to-mid sixties, this one was produced by Americans, and concentrates solely on Africa, specifically dealing with the vanishing of the old and bringing in of the new. That's the stated intention and theme anyway, but obviously it's a load of crap. While the narration dotes on endlessly about the "old ways", etc, etc., we all know the point is to show as much outrageous animal slaughter, weird native rituals and natural anomalies as possible. Like most films of this type that I've seen, this one comes off as a cross between staged nonsense ("Africa Blood and Guts") and real life strangeness ("Mondo Cane"), but tends to move quite slowly and is actually pretty racist in its condescending tone and exploitative feel. Highlights that set this above some of the others include some pretty messed up birth defects and tumors, milking of poisonous snakes for their venom and an open brain surgery operation that must be seen to be believed. As I mentioned, this is pretty over-the-top and outrageous, but it left me with a feeling of phoniness, This is the kind of movie that inspired the infamous "Cannibal Holocaust" and is worth seeing as a slice of film history if for no other reason.
