After the first two Mondo Canes, famous Italian documenters Jacopetti and Prosperi went deep into Africa, which during the mid sixties was in a period of change from foreign rule to self governing. The resulting footage shot formed Africa Addio.The film is based around the changing power structures in Africa in the sixties, after the withdraw of European rule. In a nutshell, the film is comprised of two different types of scenes; ones that involve the killing of animals by either the poachers or the African citizens, and ones that detail the humanity side, of genocides and mass killings, of exploitation, shown through helicopter rides over the thousands of littered dead bodies, and close encounters with the zealous and angry soldiers.These scenes are when the film is at it's most dangerous and evocative for me; the footage of the film makers in a car, trying to wade through the chaos of a street in Zanzibar, before having a gun butt rammed through their window, and being pulled out to be executed. Only the quick work of a police officer, recognising their Italian, saved them for their death, as explained in the excellent documentary Godfathers of Mondo.Another scene involves the film makers plane attempting to land on an old airstrip, before they wisely decide against it after witnessing the plane before them being burnt and the passengers being held captive.Unfortunately, these menacing but short scenes are the highlight of the entire film, with quite a large portion of the remaining movie being based around the slaughter of animals, in a large and distressingly graphic collection of scenes. While appropriate within the context of the film, after seeing scores of elephants de-trunked, hippos skinned and antelope speared, one becomes queasy, and simply fast-forwards the offending scenes.In essence, if Jacopetti and Prosperi had focused on the political and social-economic developments in East Africa a little more, Africa Addio would have been a more concise and rewarding affair.That being said, Africa Addio is still remarkably well shot, edited and scored. So while the large amount of animal violence can be off-putting, it still is a good film with merit.7/10 (As a sidenote, according to the film, the footage by helicopter of Zanzibar, taken from January 18 - 20 is the only known footage taken in the country during the genocide of Arabs in the area by the black Africans.)

First of all I must say I'm currently filled with disgust with many of the comments expressed here. There is no reason for whites to take pleasure debasing themselves for acts they haven't personally been part of. If readers involved are so humane to forgive blacks for their past faults against whites (some of them portrayed in this very documentary), why can't they reciprocate this forgiveness for white men as well. The answer is more than obvious: their "humane" anti-racism is nothing more than mindless anti-WHITE racism using a rehashed Marxist rhetoric.That being said, this unique documentary tries to cover the critical period when, caught between a climate of social unrest in their home countries (fuelled by "progressives" of the above type) and soviet-backed rebellions in their colonies, Europeans powers started to withdraw from their possessions. While doing so, they left behind their houses, their roads, their cities, their electricity, their civilization and never forgot to pour in billions in foreign aid for what soon became a hungry continent. How did the post-colonial regimes reciprocate? - They raped and massacred white nurses, who came there to provide FREE MEDICAL CARE for them. When a couple of white mercenaries went into a rescue mission and captured the ones involved in these unspeakable acts, one of the misguided viewers feels empathy for the black murderers (but none at all for the massacred white nurses)...They seized white estates using a "Africa for the Africans" rhetoric. Not a single "anti-racist" objects to this RACE right, although if we'd claim exactly the same for ourselves that would be, in their mind, "racism". Absolutely no compensation was given to the owners, as the movie shows. Once occupied by their "rightful" owners (according to anti-racists), estates went into normal African dereliction, horses were eaten and farmlands yielded no more crops. In no time, the same nation was begging for white man's MORAL DUTY TO HELP, although no amount of white financial compassion seems able to curb the "white devil" holly truth. Fact is, as the movie shows, each and every black African country followed exactly the same path: whites' properties seizing, dictatorship, bloody civil wars, begging for foreign aid, then while cashing in for the aid complaining that whites try to resurrect the colonial system by keeping blacks in a receiving state... Zimbabwe is the most recent example, while the acclaimed "new" South-Africa, where whites have been compelled through draconian international sanction to hand over the country they've built to its "rightful owners", represented through the voice of black communist leaders taught how to apply class struggle theories to a race struggle reality.They tried to line up and execute all remaining whites (Congo), only to be narrowly rescued by an US Commando. This act caused international uproar not because of Afro-Communist Congolese government's intention, but for US' intrusion into a sovereign nation's businesses...Soon upon consuming what whites left behind, African nations developed into Marxist dictatorships, as practically all of the "liberation movements" were backed by Soviet Union. The "dear leaders" imposed draconian control over their subjects, becoming unspeakably rich communists, while their naturally apathetic African subjects sunk into even greater destitution. The absurd linear borders, who kept rival tribes within the same country, while splitting others between two countries, have also contributed to an intrinsic lack of stability in African countries, where ethnic-based militia battle for dominance on ruins of a former colony.Ultimately, this movie is unique among its own kind by showing glimpses of empathy for whites, which is quite simply considered RACIST (!) these days.

Africa Addio contains some really strong scenes of animal cruelty and human death. However the editing, lack of storyline and historical facts in general disappointed me. If the directors had taken their time to research the events they portrait, the movie would have come out much better and informative. Some scenes are beautifully shot and made, but others seems added to just to shock and disturb the viewer. Generally the whole "Mondo" genre needs much more depth and facts, instead of the pure intention to shock the audience.Africa Addio is a movie that could have been so much more, but lands as an average gore filled documentary which display the lack of insight of the directors. Filming animals getting killed for sports, people executed, stacks of severed hands, rotten corpses along the road and mass graves for the sheer shock value seems uninspiring and sometimes plain dumb. The creators of Africa Addio invented the Mondogenre - but at the same time, they hit a new rock bottom for the whole documentary genre. It could have been so much more, but ended up real sad. I have seen the "Directors Cut" of the movie - which according to the directors should be "more political, historical and informative", all themes lack, and a movie which could have been highly educational end up as a sad shocker. Mondo Addio.

I was shocked by the user comments! Why is this film considered as a remarkable documentary? It is nothing but an ultimate exploitation piece that tries to show as many bloody bodies as possible while traveling around the continent. Think about it: a film exploiting real human suffering. Besides, as it is told by a German professional soldier Kongo-Müller in a truly remarkable documentary Der lachende Mann (1965), there were actually people executed in front of the cameras just because of this film.This film lacks about everything that has anything to do with moral or ethics - or humanity. It is made with style, and it makes the viewer believe that there is a message or even a heart in it. In many ways, this is a very dangerous film.