MUGABE AND THE
WHITE AFRICAN
Year: 2009
USA: First Run Features
UK: Dogwoof Films
Cast: Michael Campbell, Ben Freeth, Angela Campbell, Laura Campbell
Directors: Lucy Bailey, Andrew Thompson
Country: UK
USA & UK: 90 mins
UK Certificate: 12A contains bloody injury detail
USA Release Date: 13 August 2010 (Limited Release - Los Angeles)
USA Release Date: 23 July 2010 (Limited Release - New York)
UK Release Date: 8 January 2010 (Limited Release)
UK Distributor
Synopsis
"I'm still the Hitler of the times. This Hitler has only one objective; justice for his people, sovereignty for his people. If that is Hitler, right... then let me be a Hitler ten fold." - Robert Mugabe
Michael Campbell is one of the few hundred white farmers left in Zimbabwe since President Robert Mugabe began his violent 'Land Reform' program in 2000. Since then the country has descended into chaos.
In 2008 Mike took the unprecedented step of challenging President Robert Mugabe in an International Court; accusing Robert Mugabe and his government of racial discrimination and violations of basic human rights. What follows is an intimate, moving and often terrifying account of one man and his family's extraordinary courage in the face of overwhelming injustice and brutality.
Set against the tumultuous 2008 Presidential elections MUGABE AND THE WHITE AFRICAN follows Mike and son-in-law Ben Freeth's harrowing attempt to save their farm and with it the homes and livelihoods of 500 black workers and their families. Filmed over 12 months, a gripping courtroom drama unfolds whilst all the time Mike, his family and the farm workers face the all too real threats of Mugabe's wrath on the farm. After months of frightening threats and a horrific attack the Court's judges finally rule unanimously in Mike's and Ben's favour. They return to the farm. But will Mugabe and his henchmen abide the Courts decision?
In an intimate and often terrifying film, this is the only documentary feature film to have come out of Zimbabwe in recent years, where a total press ban existed. Much of this film was shot covertly. To have been caught filming would have meant imprisonment.