Film Review: General Butt Naked and “The Cannibal Warlords of Liberia”
As I’m sure many people can agree with, the many diverse countries that reside in Africa are often portrayed as the same Savannah-ish style in pop culture and are oftentimes disregarded and seen as just another African country with little to no knowledge of each individual country. A lot of what we know about Africa as a whole is minimal and surface level, culminating in the word “Africa” relating to thoughts of malaria, poverty, lions, and the lack of fresh drinking water or famine. These images, although clearly unpleasant, are often glossed over and forgotten about as Africa is portrayed as an alien or far away land. The Vice documentary, “The Cannibal Warlords of Liberia”, alongside its jarring name, brings viewers to experience first hand accounts of what the war-torn and impoverished country of Liberia faces on a daily basis by following journalist, Shane Smith and a group of ex-Liberian warlords in Liberia’s worst slums.
The gritty documentary does not preach a message to the masses and does not attempt to do so. “The Cannibal Warlords of Liberia” tugs at viewer’s viscera with candid and unscripted scenes of Liberia and the everyday Liberians behaving as they normally would. On multiple occasions, the Liberian people told their own story in ways that nobody could have possibly thought of, such as when Shane Smith is visiting West Point and is randomly approached by a Liberian boy wanting to rap for him. As opposed to the gaudy lyrics of gold chains and expensive cars we see in the United States, the boy begins to rap about AIDS and the death of those he knows due to the virus that is rampant in Liberia. On top of this, within minutes, Shane is walking into a marketplace where he encounters a child smoking heroin and speaking of the time he raped a woman while high on cocaine. The footage pulls no punches and continues on with footage of the Liberian police being bribed, prostitutes in the brothel causing a riot, and the entirety of Joshua Blahyi’s testimony as General Butt Naked. These moments speak louder than words as the audience is able to witness and listen to the voices of the people of Liberia.
In order to support and serve as a voice of reason to some of the admittedly outlandish and unfathomable claims of the warlords and random citizens of Liberia, Shane Smith commentates over necessary parts of the documentary in order to give a larger and unbiased perspective on the country. In these segments, Shane often brings up statistics and objective statements about Liberia. When a prostitute approaches Shane she explains how she gets paid 50 to 100 Liberian Dollars, it is then explained that this is less than a single US dollar. This is expanded upon when Shane announces that Liberia is the fourth poorest country in the world with around 80% of the population being unemployed. With the addition of irrefutable statistics, it is made obvious that Liberia is in desperate need of aids on all levels. With such a poorly run and corrupt government, Liberia faces humanitarian issues left and right. Any type of wellness center is too expensive for the average citizen, yet these centers go on as there is a demand for them, given that 70% of all women face some form of rape or sexual assault. Shane serves the viewers with a sort of calm amongst the chaotic country.
Even through the brutal scenes of the film, one can easily find themselves feeling a wide range of emotions. Of the most captivating stories and characters lies that of Joshua Blahyi, AKA General Butt Naked. Blahyi was a warlord in the Liberian Civil war, commanding his child soldiers to battle multiple times a day, all while only wielding a gun, wearing only sneakers, and only being a teenager himself. Joshua Blahyi has admittedly killed over 20,000 people during his reign of terror in Liberia, those numbers are including a ritual of child sacrifices that involved cutting open a live child and taking and eating their still-beating hearts before battle. However, since the day he shows up uninvited and unannounced at Shane’s hotel, the audience gets nothing but a sense of a different, caring man. General Butt Naked is seemingly in the past, and as can be observed by befriending Shane, is now quite the charismatic individual. His life’s story from self proclaimed devil worshipper to becoming a pastor of Jesus Christ is something that even the most creative man could not possibly envision and is sure to invoke polarizing emotions.
As is the norm with Vice documentaries, the first hand experiences, unscripted lines, and on the scene footage speaks a message that a high budget, stock footage-filled documentary would not be able to convey. However what the viewer sees is also backed by Shanes commentary giving informational facts and backing up the candid view from the camera. An unexpected, yet unforgettable, emotional rollercoaster resides within Joshua Blahyi and the viewer’s perspective on him. All considered, Vice captivates viewers in one way or another, if not in every way possible, to see the truth of the state of Liberia and the way some forgotten corners of the world are treated.