Friday, June 29, 2007

This Is Africa (T.I.A.)


The month of June brought three decent movies to the Ski household. Three gritty political dramas that reminded the ski's how good we have it here in the U.S. of A. All three centered around Africa and were all quite entertaining.


The first was Blood Diamond with Leo DiCaprio and Dijimon Hounsou. Despite Leo's fake accent, the movie was quite entertaining as it focused on two men chasing after a giant pink diamond while the countryside surrounding them fizziles out of control. I especially liked Colonel Coetzee and the way the movie depicted the diamond trade and children as soldiers. The movie sort of made me want to raise a mercenary army and take over countries. Sort of.


The second was The Last King of Scotland . The movie was based on the true events of the brutal Ugandan dictator Idi Amin's regime through the eyes of a Scot that randomly became not only his physician but also his closest advisor. Forest Whitaker stole the show despite the movie being centered on the physician. For an interesting article regarding the movie, take a look at this. My favorite parts were when Idi Amin dressed up as a cowboy and the Scot physician gave the British spies a hard time.


Finally, the last movie was Catch a Fire with Tim Robbins and Derek Luke. The movie focused on South Africa during Apartheid and how the government's actions towards one man made him into a "freedom fighter/terrorist." A great cat and mouse political thriller that focused on the past. Also based off a true story of which I didn't know until the very end. Damn commie's had a role in everything.


All in all, the three movies really showcased the dark side of Africa and I encourage all two people that read this blog to rent them if time allows.

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