AFRICAN DEAL, THE

THE VIDEO

This review is based on the Greek Video release.

THE STORY

An important deal is due to take place between an Italian millionaire, Donati (Enrico Maria Salerno), and an African entrepreneur, Kofi (Calvin Lockhart). A group of Donati's men are sent out to Ghana, with express orders to carry out the final negotiations (and ensure that a competitor doesn't sneak in there and beat them to it). Kofi isn't overly happy as they hardly appear to be the slickest of operators: McDougall (George Hilton) is a stuffed shirt with a point to prove, his wife (Anita Strindberg) a slattern, Silvia (Yanti Somer) merely one of Donati's concubines on a handy vacation and Antonio (Franco Giornelli) a racist drunkard (and sadistic homosexual with a thing for native boys, to boot). In order to play them at their own game, he pretends to be one of his own executives (and they're all so stupid they believe him, even with the considerable evidence pointing towards the truth).

Almost despite themselves, Kofi and Silvia start having an affair (their first sex scene is absolutely hilarious, with the camera pulling back from one to the other, slowly revealing more of their naked flesh as they stand still like a pair of kinky living statues). As well as creating the opportunity for lots of location work in the nearby tourist spots, this also helps to create tension amongst the visitors (one of their jobs is to ensure that Silvia only sleeps with Kofi, and certainly not with one of his 'executives'). To make matters worse, Donati himself is on his way, and he's unlikely to be too happy with the way things are progressing.

CRITIQUE

This is a rather peculiar little film, ambitious and not without interest, but also suffering from a distinct lack of self-conviction: it seems to have absolutely no idea exactly what it wants to be. At heart, it's a corporate drama, but - frankly speaking - there was very little market for that kind of thing, so it also throws in a lot of exotic erotica. The problem with this is that the sexy sequences are absolutely terrible. There's one particularly hilarious coupling filmed in such a way that all you see is Lockhart's gurning expression intercut with Somer's vacant visage (she looks as though her brain's gone into standby to conserve energy, which isn't probably too far from the truth).

Filmmaker Giorgio Bontempi, an ex-journalist who had previously helmed the political autobiography Summit (68), obviously had deeper things on his mind than general sauciness. The real theme is that of colonialism (and, by extension, post-colonialism): this is firmly established in the opening moments, with Donati ducking out of an 'important' meeting without any prior notice, leaving his prospective African business partner at a complete (and far from happy) loss. It continues with Eve's condescending attempts to seduce Kofi (African's can't help but fancy white women) and McDougall's attempts to blackmail him (all African's are corrupt). Throughout all of this, Kofi proves to be (a) more erudite (b) cleverer and (c) more dignified than just about everybody else. The irony is, of course, that the white characters are far more bound into 'slavery' than their African counterparts: they've chosen to sell their own freedom in pursuit of Donati's cash. It's a simplistic viewpoint, to be sure, and one that doesn't take any account of the mass of African's who have no more power over their own destiny that citizens of the West (although this is, admittedly, acknowledged in the near-twist ending). I'd guess that this was intended as a reaction to the Mondo Movies that had proved so successful in the previous decade, but it also acts as an antecedent to the (thankfully) brief trickle of films inspired by Richard Fleischer's Mandingo (75).

From a technical point of view, it's all well made. There's some nice music and the locations are shot with an almost anthropological eye. There's a really quite startling flashback to scenes of slaves being held prisoner and tortured in a prison: sledgehammer liberalism at best, but also strangely effective (partly because it's just so out of place, it could have come direct from a Mondo). On the downside, the pace does occasionally grind to a halt, with way too much soap opera exposition, and it takes itself more seriously than a broadsheet popular music correspondent. Bontempi's next film, Notturno (82), was a similarly flawed, sprawlingly aspirational effort, albeit dealing with cold war espionage rather than inter-racial relationships.

The African Deal benefits from a good cast, most of who make the most of their complex characters. Hilton plays very much against his normal role, a somewhat hapless technician who's caught up in things beyond his control (and who yet wishes to be away from all the questionable business he's obliged to take part in). Calvin Lockhart - a Bahamian actor who appeared in The Beast Must Die (74) at around the same time - does pretty well, and Anita Strindberg veers from sympathetic to being an out and out bitch. Franco Giornelli, an underestimated character actor who comes across something like a more svelte version of Ronald Frazer, is very good indeed: it's a testament to his skill that such a despicable character could almost become likeable. Unfortunately, Yanti Somer, despite being as attractive as the next Eurobabe, has a disconcerting habit of letting her mouth hang open and eyes glaze over whenever anybody addresses a line of dialogue towards her.

Matt Blake