The Constant Critic

[aeichener]

Sometimes - just sometimes - we see articles in the Kenyan press that are truly excellent. They are spread among all three papers, and they tend to console me over my perpetual pet peeves of bad English, content superficiality of US proportions (there are some really, really bad pieces in the Kenyan media, so cheesy that could easily have appeared in the New York Times or Washington Post), and slothful, derelict newspaper editors who are sleeping curled up under their desks, wondering why the roasted chicken do not fly directly into their mouths, and why insolent pestering creatures called "readers" actually expect them to do *work*.

But this article was a brilliant. It was written by John Kariuki, and its was a movie critique at its very best, going far beyond a simple plot-rendering, and putting the film into a much larger (and political) framework, discussing perceptions, clichés and legacies of colonialism. He writes lucid, supple, yet differentiated; a beautiful mind.

www.nationmedia.com/dailynation/nmgcontententry.asp?category_id=31&newsid=65960

And it is not the first time he tackles the topic; some years ago, he commented similarly on the publicized imagery of the Maasai ("Maasai: The New Red Indians of Hollywood"):

www.fsa.ulaval.ca/personnel/vernag/EH/F/cause/lectures/Red%20Indians%20of%20Hollywood.htm

The guy is good. And he does make us proud. I wish I knew an address to email him...

Alexander

[kamalet]

I say the movie on my way back to Kenya last Wednesday and had very mixed emotions about it. Whilst there is a story on conspiracy of big drug companies and government functionaries involved in corruption, I came out feeling rather sad at some of the portrayals of the african, and how little they mattered in the big picture.

It is not just the annoying scene of 2 actors in Kenyan police uniform asking for a bribe in the most comical way from Justin, but the comment made when they left the little turkana girl to fend for herself in the face of a bandit attack as the white blokes took refuge in a UN aircraft taking off. Or when Tessa confronted the Health Minister with allegations of bribery to finance a large limo outsude the reception, which I do not think any foreign journalist would do anyway!

There were a few moments of pride though when the Kenyan pilot of the UN plane declined a bribe!

Difficult to really tell what emotions you come out with in that movie!

[aeichener]

Thank you for your input, Kamalet. Here is another interesting critique, from another Kenyan abroad:

ajkenswi.blogspot.com/2005/11/constant-gardener.html

Alexander