Mugabe and the White African (12A)
Your support helps us to tell the story
From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.
At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.
The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.
Your support makes all the difference.The tragedy of Zimbabwe is righteously caught in this Oscar-nominated documentary about one man's hopeless fight against the chaotic land-grab instituted by Robert Mugabe.
Mike Campbell, a dapper, 75-year-old farmer, was told that he no longer owned his property and would have to yield it, in common with other white landowners, to a poor black family (in reality, the government's own flunkeys and hangers-on).
Refusing to be intimidated, Campbell and Ben Freeth, his son-in-law, decided to take their grievance to an international tribunal in Namibia, arguing that their eviction was based on racial discrimination – still a crime, one assumes, even in Mugabe's country. Their case, continually postponed, eventually came to trial, though not before the Campbell family were kidnapped and beaten to within an inch of their lives.
The film, most of it shot covertly at great personal risk, takes an openly one-sided view of the struggle, though when one side is being terrorised and robbed, and the other side constitutes a rampant self-serving militia, there seems little use in hoping for a "balanced" view. The film's double ending still comes as a shock.
Join our commenting forum
Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies
Comments