Genocide Movie Rejected in Germany

‘Measures of Men’, a fictional period drama by German film-maker Lars Kraume, has drawn the ire of black film-makers in Germany who want to know why their tax money was used to create a film that they say whitewashes the Nama and Ovaherero genocide.

The Schwarze Filmschaffende Afro-German film collective, in a public statement to German minister of state for culture and media Claudia Roth, argues that the film re-inflicts the pain of dehumanising their ancestors on the descendants of the Ovaherero and Nama, who are forced to cope with the intergenerational trauma and effects of genocide. It also contributes to numerous anti-black representations.

The film-makers expressed “horror” with the selection of three films at this year’s recent Berlinale, including ‘Measures of Men’.

In a letter dated 17 April, the group questioned why German ministry officials, the organisers of the Berlin International Film Festival and the German Film Academy financed the films using European and German funding.

They said the films “replicate, fuel, extol, promote and spread anti-black racist images, tropes, stereotypes and discriminatory narrative forms”.

They also questioned why the films were endorsed and screened at a top German festival, which proclaims to be a “place of intercultural exchange” as well as a “platform for the critical cinematic exploration of social issues”, which was also financed through public funds.

The group said it is their responsibility as black film-makers to advocate the greater inclusion of black film creatives across the entire German-speaking film industry, and to promote, create and exchange opportunities and resources for black film-makers.

‘Measures of Men’ misleads viewers about Germany’s colonial history and relegates the Nama and Ovaherero to being extras in the film, reads the letter.

“The cinematic treatment of this historical episode not only renders its victims as extras of their own history but also retraumatises their descendants and black viewers in general, with the film’s appalling, disturbing images of dehumanised black people,” said the film-makers’ collective.

The letter also quotes a review by German writer Vivien Buchhorn likening the film to a “white saviour moment”.

“In stark contrast to the ambivalent, three-dimensional, fully formed white characters with whom empathy is created, the Ovaherero and Nama characters become largely passive silhouettes of their own genocide. By using a camera that constantly films them through the mostly distant, objectifying colonial gaze, they are denied empathy.

“Despite the ambiguous attempt to highlight the only central black character [Girley Jazama] as the main character of the film through the film’s poster, she disappears during long swathes of the narrative and is only allowed to utter a few sentences in total,” writes Buchhorn.

The film has gained international attention in a significantly short span of time since its release, featuring in sought after publications like The Hollywood Reporter and Variety.

IMPORTANT HISTORY

Local film-maker Florian Schott, who was also involved in the film, disagrees with this assessment.

He said the story is told through a white German protagonist and most Namibian black characters are side characters, but, as the director Kraume said multiple times, making a film from a Namibian perspective, by a white German writer and director, would be cultural appropriation.

He said the film makes an important contribution and case for remembrance in retelling a terrible but important time in German and Namibian history.

“It is important for Germans to hear about an almost untold chapter in their history and it could help in the negotiations for reparations.

“The letter assumes that the film will cause pain to the descendants of the genocide, without having done the research. I attended multiple screenings with Ovaherero descendants and from what I’ve heard from other screenings is, yes, the film is painful to watch, but the overwhelming feeling is gratitude for the story being told. The film plays an important part to not forget this painful but important piece of history,” said Schott.
– unWrap.online