The Ambassador

2012 "To Break The Story, He Must Become The Story"
The Ambassador
7.2| 1h33m| NR| en| More Info
Released: 29 August 2012 Released
Producted By: Zentropa International Sweden
Country: Denmark
Budget: 0
Revenue: 0
Official Website: http://www.trustnordisk.com/film/2011-ambassador
Synopsis

Danish journalist Mads Brügger goes undercover as a Liberian Ambassador to embark on a dangerous yet hysterical journey to uncover the blood diamond trade in Africa.

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petarmatic This documentary is a real insight into dealing and wheeling in Central African Republic. I heard all the bad things about that country. It seems that it is bad as they say. It looks that they are not only corrupt but cannibals as well. It gives me shivers down my spine.I am sorry to say that more and more countries in the world look as failed states as they CAR. It really shows us in what sorry state Africa is in.Just few days they showed footage of people trying to get into Mellia, so desperate to get to Europe.More and more people like that are coming all the time from the failed states of Africa.Nothing can be done to stop that.
johne8-600-911582 It seems that all the less than positive reviews of this film have failed to realize the genre of the film--that is absurdism. Attempting to create an argument through logical and deductive reasoning--in the sense that everything be perfectly scripted and organized--utterly fails to consider the wider spectroscope of human nature. Absurdism tends to lends itself a generous victim to narrow and short-sighted attacks and criticism-- searching for meaning in an otherwise meaningless reality. Welcome to the wold of contradiction and compromise--in other words--reality. Watching or reading such genres never fails to stoke up some amount of internal conflict--yet somehow feel an awkward (e.g. absurd) connection.
Tim Portalatin Mads Brugger plays his character well as an under cover shady diplomat. It is humorous simply because you know he is faking it and everyone around him is taking him seriously.The fact of the matter is that Mads Brugger was really risking his life to get this footage. There was no abort button, if things went horribly wrong we wouldn't even have this documentary. I would have liked him to go deeper into the shadow-world of Africa, but the fact of the matter is that he could have ended up dead in a ditch. He is lucky that he did not.This is not a documentary about morals, it is simply a documentary about how easy it is for the wealthy to become involved in corrupt government. It shows how far money can go in a corrupt society. The fact of the matter is that as stated in the movie, 2,500 of people were registered as Ambassadors to that single country in one year. That is just to give you an idea of how many wealthy people are living this lifestyle.
Benno Mads Brügger - whose last documentary consisted entirely of ultra rare recordings from deep inside North Korea - is releasing a new documentary; this time about corruption in the Central African Republic (CAR). Not posing as a diplomat, but having bribed his way to actual diplomatic immunity, Mads travels to the capital Bangui to set up a consulate and mingle with shady businessmen and poor, clueless locals.A lot of the footage has been captured with hidden cameras, hence of less than perfect quality, the rest with a Canon 5D which no-one in the entire country recognized as a film camera. Real life crooks exposing themselves include European dealers of diplomatic passports, local criminals / businessmen, the now dead chief of the CAR secret service and some international diplomats.It appears corruption is more widespread than most would assume. Illegal trading in diamonds is much more widespread than most could imagine. And that France, the former colonial master, is still meddling in affairs there - in a completely amoral fashion.A must-see for anyone interested in foreign aid, blood diamonds, international diplomacy, the exploitation of Africa or just how to do a documentary. Genre-wise it is related to the works of Michael Moore and Sacha Baron Cohen, I'd say. Don't miss it.