User reviews

Africa Addio, is an Italian film with English subtitles. The film is a documentary about Africa, including scenes of animals being poached, a civil war and a revolution and a bunch of tribes being slaughtered. The film came out in Italy in 1966 and then came to North America in 1970 entitled Africa: Blood And Guts, and had 37 minutes cut from it's running time. Winner of The David Award for Best Production at The David Di Donatello Awards. The version I saw of the film was the 139 minute director's cut. The film is a very good looking film with great cinematography and production design. The film is also very interesting and is very powerful and disturbing with some of the images it shows us. After awhile the film started to feel long though and felt like it dragged on a little bit too much the last half hour or so. Some parts were also a little confusing but generally this is an entertaining, interesting and powerful film that is just as shocking now as it was in the 60's.

Both terrifying and fascinating are the words that sprang up in my mind as I was watching the movie.

It's fascinating that the record of atrocities made to humans and animals in Africa existed already in the sixties. Just as those atrocities were happening. Today, fifty years later, we are only made aware post festum that something like that was happening and happened, but it is like some distant point in the past. If you think Iraq war in the nineties was the first 'live' feed of (war) terror from the other side of the world, think again. And try to find this movie. The movie maybe is not 'live' feed in the most rigid sense of the word, but it is a contemporary document of something that shouldn't have happened. And, what is worse, is still happening today.

And terrifying? Well, you just have to see the movie.

This is a very well done documentary. But what it shows will mortify you. I was yelling at the screen.

The atrocities against the animals in this documentary absolutely made me sick. Animals are slaughtered relentlessly, cruelly and for no reason other than the sport of it. I wanted those wild animals to rip their killers to shreds. At least once it would have been nice to see one of the poachers ripped to shreds by the elephants, lions and hippos.

It never ceases to sicken me how a man with a gun thinks he has really accomplished something by shooting an animal. Watching the men stand proudly with their gun over the carcass of an animal for a photo just makes me sick. They should all have been fed to the lions.

This documentary proves one thing and one thing only. Humans are the sickest and cruelest animals on the planet.

This just aired on the small (digital) "culture" channel here in Finland. I am not sure whether this was the censored or the uncensored version - if this was the censored one I don't even want to think about what might be in the uncensored version.

Very very very impressive photography and - above all - editing. It *is* in parts very gruesome (esp. animal lovers should be prepared for some depictions of mindless cruelty) - but it also shows beautiful things, black, white, animal and floral.

That this is hard to come by today I can understand, it is just impossible politically incorrect (and must have been so at the time too). The makers of this movie seem to sympathise with everyone and no-one

Sent to Africa to make the next Mondo Cane movie the film makers found themselves in the middle of several revolutions. What they would film would form the basis of a damning attack on everyone, both black and white, involved in the shift in power on the Dark Continent.

I've watched the three versions of this film and I'm a fan of all of them. Interestingly the one I like the least is the original cut of the film which has several snide comments and re-dubbed voices that make the film truly rude and cruel for no good reason. The original cut goes out of its way to have a holier than thou view that is missing from both of the English cuts. The original cut also has several more minutes of animal cruelty that is completely uncalled for.

This film ran into serious trouble upon its original release because charges were brought, though later found to be false, that the film makers had paid some of the soldiers to kill some one so that they could film it. (this charge would form the basis for The Wild Eye, a fictional film about the making of a mondo movie made by another Mondo Cane director) Considering all of the the death and destruction in this film I find it hard to believe that anyone would have had to have been paid to kill anyone.

Yes, its a tough film, but it leaves no one with clean hands, even the film makers.

See this film. It will make you think.

Poachers mindlessly killing game for fun and profit. Hands being chopped off a la Colonial Congo. Arabs being massacred on mass during the Zanzibar revolution. Simba rebels killing and being executed in return. White mercenaries fighting in the Congo.

All of these things, and many more, are followed by this classic Mondo film. It's flawed (its narrative is shamelessly colonialist, avoiding all the atrocities that the colonizers committed and the actual causes for nationalism that led to these tragedies), but this is Heart of Darkness for the film generation: It is a glimpse into the worst that Africa has to offer, and nobody comes out looking good.

Highly recommended, if you got the stomach to watch some of the most senseless butchery ever recorded on film. If only these guys had done Vietnam.

Quite the conundrum, 80% of the comments focus only on the violence, which is extreme and relentless at times. It should also be noted that the film clocks in at 2 hours and 20 minutes, and, there is a whole other world being presented when the violence stops. Quite simply, the cinematography will knock your socks off; we're talking major motion picture stuff with an original score that keeps evolving and is quite breathtaking(i still haven't seen this on a big screen but, wow). Speaking of breathtaking, visually this film is a feast for the eyes, it's hard to believe at times that i'm watching a documentary; a documentary that will open you up and get inside you and everyone that sees it, with no pun intended and no shame. As someone else said here, it is 'an uneasy time capsule'. The brutality, perfectly balanced with tender and profound beauty. Real situations balanced with oddity and humor.

I mean, the directors won an Oscar for cinematography just before this and at one part of the film they are a breath away from being executed, only to be saved by an officer who points out that they are Italian. Now in 2009, and every day forward until the end of civilization, this collection of moving pictures becomes more and more potent, gaining credence with every new low that so-called 'modern' humanity sinks to, with the temporal yet exquisite fruits of it's labor always just out of reach of the masses. AN ABSOLUTE MUST SEE

A watch for anyone willing to explore the harsh reality of Africa's history in its raw uncensored format.

Many critics have harshly criticised Africa Addio, calling it a brutally one-sided and misleading documentary. The film examines the continent's transition from colonial rule to independence, focusing on the Zanzibar Revolution of 1964 and the violent aftermath that followed. While some accuse the film of misrepresenting African history, it offers a stark portrayal of the harsh realities faced during this time, shedding light on the suffering and turmoil that resulted from the upheaval.

The film does not shy away from depicting the severe violence that accompanied the end of colonialism though again it uses real footage captured during the extreme circumstances of the revolution. It highlights the dramatic shift from relative peace under colonial rule to the chaos that unfolded after independence, showing how easily division and violence can spread through a population.

Though the documentary is deeply controversial, it presents real footage from 1964 (with the film released in 1966) some deny the authenticity of the film but I'm convinced they're just not willing to accept the reality of what occurred in 1964. The documentary's graphic content, including scenes of violence, animal cruelty, and human suffering, serves as a reminder of the darker aspects of humanity during periods of intense social and political upheaval.

While the film may lack a clear ethical framework or commentary on the events it portrays, it still provides valuable insight into a painful chapter of African history which should not be forgotten. Afrika Addido is undeniably difficult to watch, but it is an essential historical record for those willing to confront the complexities of this period.

I watched this film last month and I was blown away. In the documentary form, some film makers use a narrator while others let the subjects tell the story in their own words. This film uses bold and dynamic cinematography to tell this gripping and sadly true tale in a way more powerful than any other narrative format. This movie was filmed using a variety of 16mm and 35mm motion pictures cameras. Virtually all of the shots are hand held and I was not surprised to later learn the the Director of Photography was awarded an Oscar for one of his previous works. I spent the summer of 2002 touring Africa and I stayed in a few of the locations shown in this film. I was amazed to see the splendor of the cities in this film which stood in stark contrast to the squalid ruins I witness less than forty years after this masterpiece was made. It was amazing to see how beautiful and vibrant these areas once were. Now it's a wasteland were life is both short and very cheap. This film is pure genius. It also represents a cautionary tale to other peoples of what can happen when the political and economic stability of a society dissipates. Also, one can't help but realize the severe consequences visited upon those naive souls who traded their prosperity, freedoms and security with the avid encouragement of those lefty do-gooders who led them down the path of ruin in the name of "casting away the chains of imperialism." After the continent imploded, these would be social engineers disappeared in the dark of night returning to their homes in London, New York and Paris to see what other societies they could ruin with their idealogical snake oil. They, by default, left to other the impossible task of cleaning up their mess.

The democracy our hapless African brothers and sisters thought they would receive never materialized and when their paternalistic European guardians left, most of these people suffered under the most brutal forms totalitarianism, crime, starvation and tribal genocide. They jumped blindfolded from their frying pans and landed in the fire. Would anyone dare say they are better off today then they were forty years ago? Food for thought.

The viewer may be prejudiced at first because it is a Mondo Film, famous for its Shockumentary style. But as this is one of the first four, made in 1966, it still has a message to convey.

The film is in a documentary style, but at a time when documentaries used real footage instead of recreations.

The film is about the end of colonialism in Africa and the narrator takes us to several important events such as the Mau Mau rebellion in Kenya, the destruction of white farms, the War in Rhodesia and Mozambique, violent protests in South Africa, terrorism in Zanzibar and a part that I think is a historical relic: a recording of Mercenaries going to save the priests and nuns who were being taken hostage in Stanleyville, Congo; I find this part really cool, the narrator initially shows them how mercenaries really are, basically ordinary people, laughing, having fun, throwing themselves into the river, etc.. and then suddenly they are in the middle of the shooting, counting money and looting, basically the the two faces of the human being, innocence and violence.

So, depending on the person, this doc is a bit gruesome because it really wants to show the disgrace that was the disorderly withdrawal of colonialism in Africa, which resulted in clan wars, assassinated presidents, guerrillas, communist dictatorships or generic military dictatorships being established in the countries.

So if you want to see it, know that there are often bodies, dead people, exploded people, mass graves, corpses, skeletons and more on the screen. In fact, the film has a part where the mercenaries arrest a terrorist who had burned down a daycare center with 27 children inside, they summarily execute him, then there are this and other execution scenes, for those who think it's too strong, I don't recommend it.

However, as the narrator himself explains, this was so common that people already thought it was normal to have a body in the middle of the sidewalk, so no one even bothered to remove the dead.

Despite the amount of violence and horrible things, I think that it shows the scope of the film and the absurdity that is mankind, like, there were so many dead people that everyone simply starts to treat them as part of the scenery;

In conclusion, like, yeah, obviously this film ends up doing a collection of horrible things and it's important to remember that Africa isn't just that, even more so today. But unfortunately it had and, in some countries, there still is a lot of it, colonialism was not an 8 or 80 phenomenon; it was good in parts but it was bad, there was apartheid, there was torture, slavery, castes and all kinds of nonsense, but ironically, when the whites were gone, the natives and their governments became as cruel or even more than those of white people.

I think this just goes to show that yes, we live in a Dog's World, where human beings will take the first opportunity to go from victim to aggressor; and that the argument that "Africa's problem is the white man"; fell to the ground a long time ago, wherever there are human beings, there will be cruelty!

Yes, this is real. At least the visual part. Some of the voice-over was changed in editing. Whether the intent was to make it more horrifying or to justify some of the scenes, I'm not sure.

The massacre scenes and the Stanleyville battle will be hard to watch.

The narrator sounded like he was seeing this for the first time as he was narrating. The shock was plain. But then that was the point.

Beware of early vids that are missing 20-30 minutes of footage.

I don't think the filmmakers meant to take sides here. Although I get the impression the hunting scenes were the main reason for filming. They just seemed to find out about certain other events and jumped on it.

I recently picked up the "Mondo Cane collection" from Blue Underground. The forth of the official Mondo films is "Africa Addio". A film which indicts the English empire from withdrawling from Africa, at the same time showing Africans themselves participating in Zenophobia, animal cruelty & mass genocide among other things. It also seems a tad one-sided for a documentary. (Granted not NEARLY as much as Micheal Moore's latter day more incendiary hack jobs) Blue Underground also choose to put this out on 2 disks. One being the English version, the other being the longer International one. Both are presented uncut, but the International version seems more fair-minded, providing a back story to why the things onscreen are happening.

My Grade:B-

This is the ONLY example of which I'm aware where the complete loss of a film is ignored by all media and critics. I saw this documentary on its original release in, I believe, 1967. It was very disturbing because of the miles of animal bones and bodies it displayed. It squarely placed the blame on both the whites AND the black native inhabitants. And the latter is, imho, the reason this film has disappeared. You can't find the lousiest, most edited version, let alone the original. And this movie was made by Academy Award winners for an earlier foreign film, so it's not like it was just a throwaway cheepie.

Although some people are prejudiced against the Mondo genre, this one does try to convey a message.

The documentary 'Africa Addio' presents a unique historical perspective, capturing the turbulent end of colonialism in Africa during the 1960s. The film relies on real footage, giving viewers an unfiltered glimpse into the era's significant events.

While 'Africa Addio' has its share of disturbing and violent scenes, it serves as a stark reminder of the chaos that accompanied the withdrawal of colonial powers in Africa. The documentary showcases the transition from innocence to violence, as ordinary people are suddenly thrust into a world of conflict and turmoil.

It's important to note that the film contains graphic content, including executions and scenes of violence. For some viewers, this may be too much to bear.

In conclusion, 'Africa Addio' sheds light on the complexities of post-colonial Africa, where cruelty transcends racial boundaries. It highlights the harsh reality that exists in the world, emphasizing that cruelty is not limited to any specific group. This documentary offers a thought-provoking, if unsettling, look at this tumultuous period in history.

Look, I get it. I know this film is-if not outright racist-from a decidedly colonial point of view. I know that shots in it are inaccurate or staged. I know that ten minutes of Africa Addio consists of women in bikinis bouncing on trampolines in slow motion. I get it.

But there are so many scenes from this film that stick with me.

In one, two jeeps race through the Savana with a rope tied between them. They are using the rope to mow down a heard of galloping Zebra. It is shocking, even in the age of Youtube. And yet, at the same time, it is beautifully filmed. It is horrible and yet you can't stop watching.

Honestly, Mondo Cane 1+2 along with Africa Addio have some of the best cinematography of the 1960s. The colors, framing, and composition is sublime. And I love how they play around various effects such as zooms and fisheye lenses. Many shots are handheld, which gives them an intimacy that feels very modern. Almost all Mondo spin offs got this wrong. They thought they could just toss together some uninspired shots of sex and gore. Africa Addio has sex and gore, but it makes its sex and gore into art.

Another scene in the film shows the aftermath of what is today known as the Zanzibar Revolution. From a helicopter, we see a compound full of people waving for help. The next day, we return. Now the compound is full of bodies. I've seen the aftermath of genocides in the news but this felt different. The before and after. The non-BBC style narration. It felt more authentic in some strange way. It's crazy that these shots are some of the only photographic evidence of the genocide. It's crazy that such an event was only captured by a Mondo film.

Africa Addio is undoubtably an achievement. This film managed to capture select glimpses of a world that no longer exists. And it did so in a beautiful way. Today we can overlook much of what was once considered most shocking in the film and see it as a unique work of art.

And yet, it must be said that Africa Addio is also a dangerous film. I know that the film's narrative, combined with its many powerful visual, could easily reenforce racist views. The film is dangerous if for no other reason than there's far, far more to Africa than what it presents. For this reason, I personally do not think of it as a documentary even though it consists of real footage.

I can only recommend Africa Addio to film buffs. For would be connoisseurs of exploration like myself, it is a true gem. If however you are just searching for a fun watch-or worse, looking for a documentary-look elsewhere.

Africa Addio, more commonly known as Africa Blood & Guts (so named by infamous exploitation distributor Jerry Gross), is undeniably masterful at holding one's attention. But it makes the sleaze and sensationalism of Mondo Cane seem like something produced by Walt Disney.

This movie is insane. It switches randomly from horrifying to absurd to educational to beautiful to creepy to disturbing to ... well, you get the idea.

Pumped up relentlessly by it's makers to be a serious, unbiased look at the political and social upheaval occurring in Africa during the late sixties, the movie is about as far from that as you can imagine. So many scenes are obviously fabricated outright or manipulated by the filmmakers, it's difficult to tell what's real and what's staged. In a way, however, this makes the movie even more fascinating, though more for the shameless exploits of the filmmakers than the subject matter.

There are such ridiculous scenes as a tribe of African natives emerging from their tents to play a bluesy rock song, complete with a horn section and funky piano and a scene in which African women get dressed up in "civilized" attire. These are juxtaposed with scenes of executions and rioting, footage of mass graves and poachers at work. The accusation that the filmmakers actually incited much of the violence displayed on screen is difficult to discount completely.

Once again, there's plenty of live animal slaughter (an elephant being speared to death is nearly impossible to sit through unflinchingly), much of which is perpetrated by so-called "hunters", who have the nerve to act proud at having shot an elephant to death, after it's already been exhausted by a helicopter taunting it.

The whole movie makes you furious at the treatment of the people of the country, having their land invaded by outsiders who force them to conform to their own customs, and works (perhaps unintentionally) as a very disturbing parallel to the white settlers treatment of the Native Americans centuries ago.

Recently released as part of a Mondo box set by Blue Underground, which contains both the uncut English version, as well as the much more violent "Director's Cut." The director's version contains the infamous sequence in which a hippopotamus is speared to death.

Recommended for Mondo fans. Others will probably be too disgusted to get through more than a few minutes of it. The making of this movie was an inspiration of Ruggero Deodato's Cannibal Holocaust.

There is an an important aspect that is sorely missed by other reviews here - this film is 60 years old.

Yes, it is racist. Yes, it is sensationalizing. But it's value is in the fact that it is a film of its time. There are moments that are clearly and obviously voiceovered. Some maybe staged. But these are facts that should be obvious to the modern viewer, and through this lens we gain not just an intimate view of a newly independent Africa, but also an intimate view of the worlds view of a newly independent Africa.

The only comment I can make is that this is a film worth watching, and it the responsibility of the viewer to watch it with a grain of salt. It's a film of its time, and it should be viewed as an image of its time, not as an image of a real Africa.

This film is worth watching. It's ferocious, and it is beautiful.

This is a truly visceral and brutal look at the period of greatest African decolonisation in the early 60s. There is death and destruction. At the time it was taken as a warning of a bleak future for these benighted countries and was certainly taken to heart in white South Africa. Unfortunately its warnings were incredibly prescient as the continents succumbed to the basket case we see today.

If there is any criticism it is the way its chapters jump about with no sense of clear continuity as if it is edited together randomly.

We were warned. It happened. And now the people are poorer and more abused than before.

The real heart of darkness.