A New Low for Uwe Boll

more about “A New Low for Uwe Boll“, posted with vodpod

No-one was much interested in my scoop from last year that the man widely regarded as the world’s worst film director was working on a project about the Darfur conflict, provisionally entitled “Janjaweed”. Now the trailer is out, and I for one can’t wait to Uwe Boll’s movie “Darfur”.

Set against the genocide in Darfur, six Western journalists visit a small peaceful village and find its people overshadowed by fear. Hearing that the state sponsored Janjaweed militia is heading to the village, the journalists are faced with a difficult decision – leave and report the atrocities to the world, or risk their own lives and stay in the hope of averting a certain slaughter.

Sure there’s a bit of typo in the trailer, his Janjaweed look like they’ve just arrived from Saudi Arabia and the journalists are much better looking than any journalists I know, but who cares? It’s easy to pick holes in films about Africa. At the end of the day this is an action movie that happens to be set in Darfur. I’m not expecting to come away enlightened about the complexities of the conflict. It’s a bit of fun that helps keep Darfur on the agenda.

And it’s great that Boll got there before George Clooney, who would no doubt have made all the same mistakes but turned it into a serious, campaigning movie with a, you know, message.

However, even I am a little uncomfortable with Boll’s decision to cast actual Darfur rape victims as Darfur rape victims. Boll might reckon this was the best way to generate realistic responses to the Janjaweed’s campaign of ethnic cleansing, but I’m not so sure. Now I’m no expert on the Nations guidelines for this sort of thing but I’m sure they might have something to say about making women re-enact their brutal experiences in the name of entertainment.

Brave Thinking on Darfur

I’ve long admired the work of Alex de Waal, reseacher, author and all round Sudanophile. His work has influenced a lot of my thinking on Darfur and helped me draw my own conclusions on this miserable conflict, thoughts which I’ve distilled into a book (now due to be published in February). However his clear-sighted analysis has often turned him into something of a hate figure for the self-appointed saviours of Darfur.  So it’s nice to see him lauded as a Brave Thinker… for his warnings in connection with the ICC indictments

De Waal warned that al-Bashir was likely to react violently, that rebel groups would be emboldened to violate hard-won peace agreements, that the ICC had no way to enforce its indictment, and that the whole thing would be a spectacle for the benefit of Western audiences and would only further destabilize the country. Sure enough, when al-Bashir’s warrant was issued in March, Sudan shut down human-rights groups and international aid agencies (including Oxfam and Save the Children), seized their assets, and declared, “For us, the ICC doesn’t exist.”

The Birmingham of Kenya

The road into Thika stretched before us. The hot, noon sun made the air shimmer above the Tarmac and to one side the first Jacarandas of the season were bursting into colour. An occasional flame tree added a dash of scarlet to the dusty green acacias that lined the verge. Pineapple orchards filled the hills all around.

Not once, if memory serves, was I minded to think of Birmingham – although it is quite a long time since I’ve been there.

Phone 4 Me

Has anyone tried the Sonim XP1 phone, which Time seems to be claiming as a “tough gadget”? My current Samsung U600 is pretty wrecked after four months. Its screen is scratched to pieces after a couple of trips to Sudan, a week in the DRC and a lot of battering in my pocket. Battery life is lousy too. My Motorola has just given up the ghost after being dropped in Khartoum, although it never really recovered from falling into an open sewer in Kibera in its first week.

I don’t need a phone that survives at -20C or can be driven over. But a casing that keeps out dust, and a no-glare anti-scratch coating on the screen looks pretty useful.

It’s Been Fun

Well, as I mentioned a couple of weeks ago I’m blogging for The Frontline Club now. I had wanted to try to keep South of West going, largely because I liked the name and it was my first blog. But it’s time to face up to reality and put it into hibernation. So for anyone who feels the need to keep up with my desperately inaccurate predictions about what is happening in Kenya, it is time to please change your bookmarks.

Anyone Remember Darfur?

This is awkward. Sir John Holmes, the Undersecretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator, flies in to Khartoum tonight en route to Darfur. I suspect the Khartoum press corps may be otherwise engaged.

Teddy Bears and Islam

One of the golden rules of being a freelancer is never to complain about lack of work. I have been moaning about being stuck in Khartoum for the past week, unable to get to where I want to be. And then Sudanese police arrest a British teacher here for naming a teddy bear Mohamed. All hell has broken loose.

I’m not going to discuss the sad tale of Gillian Gibbons. She’s all over the web now.

But it’s already afforded me a fascinating insight into Khartoum’s schools. Unity High School where Miss Gibbons was teaching was founded in 1902 along Christian lines in the days of Brit rule. Walking into its shady courtyard was not unlike walking into a Cambridge college or English boarding school – except with Arab arches. This is the school favoured by the Sudanese elite, and a smattering of aid and oil workers.

United Nations workers tend to prefer KICS - Khartoum International Community School. It gets rave reviews from parents but apparently costs more than Gordonstoun so only an option if Uncle Ban is providing a good education allowance. Apparently it was shipped over brick by brick from the UK so that Sudan’s very own answer to Richard Branson – Osama Daoud Abdellatif, chairman of the DAL Group - could give his kids the very best education.

Today’s story suggests that there are tensions between a Muslim population governed by Sharia law and westerners educating their children at American or British schools. I suspect they actually rub along pretty well. Many well-to-do Sudanese want their kids to go to international schools. The fear is that there may be a minority of hardliners who need little encouragement to bring their people on to the streets.

DARFUR: El Fasher is the dusty capital of North Darfur. About 150,000 people who have fled their homes during fighting in the past four years now live in three sprawling aid camps around the town. While the camp dwellers of Abu Shouk, Zam Zam and Al Salaam find their wells have dried up, and wait for their food deliveries, the long-term town residents are making heaps of money running shops selling olive oil, Camembert (fabrique en France) and jars of sour cherries to the expats working for the African Union/United Nations/aid agencies. I’ll be checking out the pizza restaurant later.

Somehow I’m pleased that some of the money arriving here from overseas will be sucked into the local economy. But house prices are already rocketing as the town prepares for the arrival of a chunk of the hybrid force that is being sent to Darfur, and things seem to be getting out of hand. Locals are going to find it difficult to afford a place in their own town soon.