David and Anansa Linderby (he white and British, she black and American) are a married couple and both doctors with the World Health Organization on a medical mission in West Africa. The title refers to Anansa's ethnic heritage, although it may have been used here because the director, Richard Fleischer, had a few years earlier made another film, "Mandingo", with a title derived from the name of an African tribe. The film was based on a Spanish novel called "Ébano", but the film-makers did not use the literal English translation, "Ebony".
While swimming in a river, Anansa is kidnapped by Arab slave traders. The distraught David tries to persuade the local police to help, but they are reluctant to get involved, as the government prefers to believe that the slave trade no longer exists. Greater assistance is provided by Brian Walker, the local representative of the Anti-Slavery Society, who believes that Anansa's kidnappers will try and take her across the Sahara Desert and Red Sea to sell in the slave-markets of Arabia. He puts David in touch with a mercenary helicopter pilot and with Malik, a man with his own reasons for seeking revenge against Suleiman, the leader of the slavers.
Given its star-studded cast, "Ashanti" should have been a success; besides its male lead Michael Caine there are contributions from Peter Ustinov, Omar Sharif, Rex Harrison, and William Holden. The film also had a well-known director in Fleischer, although it must be said that he could make bad films as well as good ones. Yet the result is far from being successful.
I think that the reason lies in the fact that it would have been very difficult to make a film on this particular subject without relying very heavily on ethnic stereotyping. In his private life Ustinov, originally a German of Russian extraction who became a naturalised British citizen, who also claimed French, Italian and Ethiopian ancestry and spent much of his life living in America or Switzerland, was a cosmopolitan figure who campaigned enthusiastically for the cause of international peace, tolerance and understanding. In his portrayal of Suleiman, every Westerner's stereotype of the corrupt, brutal, venal and hypocritical Arab, he undid much of the good work he had done for this noble cause. Sharif's character, Prince Hassan, is just as corrupt and inhumane as Suleiman, even if he hides his corruption and inhumanity beneath a veneer of wealth and sophistication.
Black African characters are portrayed as passive, at the mercy of the predatory Arabs and reliant upon Western saviours like David or Walker, who does far more to protect them than do their own complacent authorities. Even Anansa, before her kidnap, falls into this category; she may have a black skin but is nevertheless an educated Westerner. She is only kidnapped because Suleiman wrongly believes her to be an African; had he known she was an American doctor he would never have dared to touch her.
Caine's performance here is not his best, but perhaps he had a thankless task playing David, a one-dimensional hero whose only visible emotion is angry indignation, whether over his wife's predicament or over man's inhumanity to man in general. The beautiful supermodel Beverly Johnson, who plays the heroine, looks stunning, but does little to change my view that supermodels are not always super-actresses. (She seems to have liked the film; she named her daughter "Anansa" in honour of the character she plays. Anansa has since become a well-known model in her own right). Holden makes little impression as the helicopter pilot. The best acting contribution probably comes from Harrison as Walker, a seedy, shambling but surprisingly effective Englishman abroad who could have been straight out of a Graham Greene novel.
Caine (an actor whose films can vary wildly in quality) is said to have claimed that "Ashanti" was the third-worst film of his career after "The Magus" and "The Swarm". I must admit that I have not seen either of those, but of Caine's films that I have seen I would rank this one as the joint worst, along with the equally dreadful "Blame It on Rio". If "The Magus" and "The Swarm" are even worse, I cannot say that I will be in a hurry to see them. 3/10
While swimming in a river, Anansa is kidnapped by Arab slave traders. The distraught David tries to persuade the local police to help, but they are reluctant to get involved, as the government prefers to believe that the slave trade no longer exists. Greater assistance is provided by Brian Walker, the local representative of the Anti-Slavery Society, who believes that Anansa's kidnappers will try and take her across the Sahara Desert and Red Sea to sell in the slave-markets of Arabia. He puts David in touch with a mercenary helicopter pilot and with Malik, a man with his own reasons for seeking revenge against Suleiman, the leader of the slavers.
Given its star-studded cast, "Ashanti" should have been a success; besides its male lead Michael Caine there are contributions from Peter Ustinov, Omar Sharif, Rex Harrison, and William Holden. The film also had a well-known director in Fleischer, although it must be said that he could make bad films as well as good ones. Yet the result is far from being successful.
I think that the reason lies in the fact that it would have been very difficult to make a film on this particular subject without relying very heavily on ethnic stereotyping. In his private life Ustinov, originally a German of Russian extraction who became a naturalised British citizen, who also claimed French, Italian and Ethiopian ancestry and spent much of his life living in America or Switzerland, was a cosmopolitan figure who campaigned enthusiastically for the cause of international peace, tolerance and understanding. In his portrayal of Suleiman, every Westerner's stereotype of the corrupt, brutal, venal and hypocritical Arab, he undid much of the good work he had done for this noble cause. Sharif's character, Prince Hassan, is just as corrupt and inhumane as Suleiman, even if he hides his corruption and inhumanity beneath a veneer of wealth and sophistication.
Black African characters are portrayed as passive, at the mercy of the predatory Arabs and reliant upon Western saviours like David or Walker, who does far more to protect them than do their own complacent authorities. Even Anansa, before her kidnap, falls into this category; she may have a black skin but is nevertheless an educated Westerner. She is only kidnapped because Suleiman wrongly believes her to be an African; had he known she was an American doctor he would never have dared to touch her.
Caine's performance here is not his best, but perhaps he had a thankless task playing David, a one-dimensional hero whose only visible emotion is angry indignation, whether over his wife's predicament or over man's inhumanity to man in general. The beautiful supermodel Beverly Johnson, who plays the heroine, looks stunning, but does little to change my view that supermodels are not always super-actresses. (She seems to have liked the film; she named her daughter "Anansa" in honour of the character she plays. Anansa has since become a well-known model in her own right). Holden makes little impression as the helicopter pilot. The best acting contribution probably comes from Harrison as Walker, a seedy, shambling but surprisingly effective Englishman abroad who could have been straight out of a Graham Greene novel.
Caine (an actor whose films can vary wildly in quality) is said to have claimed that "Ashanti" was the third-worst film of his career after "The Magus" and "The Swarm". I must admit that I have not seen either of those, but of Caine's films that I have seen I would rank this one as the joint worst, along with the equally dreadful "Blame It on Rio". If "The Magus" and "The Swarm" are even worse, I cannot say that I will be in a hurry to see them. 3/10