Earlier this month, UK-based Zimbabwean comedian Munyaradzi Chawawa released a controversial documentary on British TV Channel 4 about the late president Robert Mugabe and Zimbabwe titled How to Survive a Dictator where "Munya goes on a journey exploring the life of Zimbabwe's Robert Mugabe, one of the world's most notorious tyrants, looking for the man behind the monster." according to the film synopsis.
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| Munya Chawawa |
Chawawa who left Zimbabwe when he was 12 and relocated to the UK with his family, returned to Zimbabwe after 17 years to film the project. "I'm so excited to share this with everyone: after 17 years, I’m returning home to Zimbabwe to find out about the notorious dictator - Robert Mugabe." read one of the Tweets promoting the film. However, he was banned from filming in Zimbabwe which lead him to seek refuge in neighbouring South Africa where he interviews former Zimbabwean government officials Saviour Kasukuwere among others.
UK film reviewer Christopher Stevens published a scathing review of the film in the Daily Mail a day after its premiere and called it an embarrassment. See excerpt below
Comedian Munya Chawawa may have survived under a brutal dictator's rule. But I have no idea how he'll survive the embarrassment of the film he made about it.The stupidity of sending YouTube personalities to do investigative journalism was brutally exposed, as his ignorance was outweighed only by his immaturity.To explain the history of Zimbabwe, where the monstrous Robert Mugabe slaughtered tens of thousands of political opponents, Munya tried making rap videos, dressing up in historical costumes and flaunting his bodybuilder biceps on How To Survive A Dictator (C4).Then, as he wasn't allowed to film in Zimbabwe, the country he fled with his parents in 2005 when he was 12, he flew to neighbouring South Africa. Attempts to interview former associates of Mugabe were a cringeing humiliation. The despot's nephews, Leo and Patrick, ran rings round him, and laughed as they did it.
Did you watch How to Survive a Dictator, what do you think? Please read Daily Mail's review of the Documentary, in full here and share your thoughts in the comments below.
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