4. Africa Addio (1964)
An excoriating and polemic documentary by Gaultiero Prosperi and Franco Jacopetti - the makers of Mondo Cane - the film that sparked the shockumentary film craze. This time Jacopetti and Prosperi are tackling the end of colonial rule in Africa and they come up with some astonishing footage - some of it beautiful (like showing off the sweeping African landscape) and some of it vile (a shot of a heap of severed hands). It is an important historical documentary because it portrays the chaos of post-colonial Africa. The camera captures the killing of thousands of Arabs in Zanzibar via filming in a helicopter. One day we see the Arabs in holding pens and hundreds of them running aimlessly to the sea. There are no boats to rescue them and the next day we see the beach littered with bodies. Africa Addio is the only proof that exists which confirms this act of genocide. Apart from that, the film is deeply racist and patronising towards Africans in the sardonic narration. Beautiful white South African girls are bouncing in slow motion on a trampoline and then running into the sea. Meanwhile Africans are portrayed as savages who cannot rule themselves and cause major violence and unrest. One of the worst things about the film is the amount of animal snuff it contains - including the slaughter of an entire hippo family. Incredibly difficult to watch, Africa Addio is a repellant beast of a film.