6. Addio Zio Tom (1971)
Jacopetti and Prosperi back to their old tricks again. The film is supposedly about slavery of black people and how white people have treated black people through the ages. It is as incendiary as a two ton semtex bomb. And it is no cheap production - it is a lavish visual spectacle that runs over 120 minutes - two hours of non stop sickening exploitation. Addio Zio Tom is not a Mondo movie in the traditional sense. All of its scenes have been fabricated but in the great Mondo tradition, there is no narrative to join the film's set pieces together. Each of them show an aspect of the slave trade. The scale of the production is quite jaw dropping and one wonders how so many black people were convinced into taking part in a film that portrays them as mere cattle. Then you find out the film was made in Haiti and the credits give thanks to everyone's favourite Caribbean dictator - Papa Doc. Your eyes will goggle at the sights in Addio Zio Tom. Black people are portrayed as savage, stupid and only either submissive or aggressive against white people. I love to love exploitation films but I honestly could not sit down to another slice of Addio Zio Tom. It is too degrading and too immoral. Pretending to condemn an episode in history whilst exploiting the hell out of it. The only good thing about the film is Riz Ortolani's fabulous score which must rank as one of his greatest.