Goodbye Uncle Tom (1971) Jacopetti and Prosperi

"They have finally done it: Made the most disgusting, contemptuous insult to decency ever to masquerade as a documentary" -Roger Ebert on Goodbye Uncle Tom

I know I said I would write about blaxploitation exclusively this month, but it looks like the scope of the project is going to be a little broader, although still essentially the same. Goodbye Uncle Tom is not a blaxploitation flick, but it certainly is about black people being exploited and I have been thinking more and more about how this kind of exploitation movie (mondo, etc..) is really important to a discussion of exploitation in film and in this particular instance, black issues.
Jacopetti and Prosperi were a team of Italian film makers who began making "documentary" films in the early 60's, generally composed of shocking and bizarre images of non-western cultures, customs, and events. The genre of films that emerged from this are now called "shockumentaries" or more classically, mondo cinema. Their first foray into this dangerous and controversial genre was Mondo Cane, one of the best known and most visually and emotionally striking of their films. One of the characteristics of their films is that they are presented to the viewer as images of truth, as documentary footage, and this, I believe, is the most dangerous and intriguing element of this type of film.
Goodbye Uncle Tom departs from the structure of Mondo Cane, which was essentially a collage of unrelated clips from different exotic locales. Uncle Tom maintains the context of being a documentary, and the film makers and camera men are frequently in the shot, interacting with the players. However, the film these on-screen film makers are making is a documentary about slavery in the pre-civil war American South. I love this whimsical decision of the film makers; it establishes a very specific point of entry for the viewer: as it is a documentary, we are asked to believe that the events in the movie are true and to respect their power as images of real life atrocities, but we are constantly reminded of the impossibility that the footage we are shown is real. This decision may have been influenced in part by the public's reaction to Afrika Addio, which was presented as pure documentary and resulted in murder charges for the film makers. It also allows the film makers to include some very powerful directorial scenes and images that would not work in the context of a film that was presented as unstaged documentary: for example, one beautiful shot of a little white girl and a young black boy frolicking together in a sunny field filled with flowers, only as they draw nearer to the camera, the viewer is stunned by the realization that the black child is on a leash.
I will be the first to admit that this film is genuinely shocking, and not for the weak of heart (or mind, or stomach); but I also think it's an important and intensely interesting movie. Based on the track records of the film makers, it is not surprising that this film is loaded with intensely disturbing, violent, and controversial(some would call it offensive) imagery. Many consider the film to be overtly racist, and I can honestly say I understand that. But I feel that it is important, and appropriate, to make a film about the atrocities committed against African slaves that leaves us shocked, angry, and chilled to the bone. Holocaust films perform a similar function in educating and pushing forward a discussion about how such events can happen and how they affect us. The difference between many disturbing holocaust films and films like Uncle Tom is the shock factor, and the elements of horror and raw exploitation used by Jacoppetti and Prosperi. One of their most effective techniques is the use of sometimes breathtaking cinematography and Riz Ortolani's downright immorally good score, which, juxtaposed against the horror of the subject matter, creates quite the cognitive effect on the viewer. I love this movie because it moved and disturbed me, and because of the texture and richness of the visual and mental world I was unwillingly thrust into. A very powerful and disturbing movie, highly recommended to those who can take it.

Also, ONLY watch the blue underground release, which is the only available copy of the directors cut, has 13 minutes of extra footage, is better edited and is from a much better quality print than other versions available in America http://www.blue-underground.com/