This Contains Spoilers. In the tumultuous era of post-colonial Africa, quite high hopes were held that the new nations would maybe in time take their place at the world table and maybe become as prosperous and civilised as western nations. As many who lived through those years and held those hopes, the reality was far different. The 1960's and beyond put the continent through dozens of wars, often referred to as civil wars, but they were and are mostly tribal,racial and religious conflicts.
In this episode, the colonials are leaving the scene as diplomats in Whithall decide which of two men will be the new independent nation's leader. One's a suit-wearing, English-college-educated young man(a classmate of our hero), the other, a middle-aged,odd-clothed rebel leader who has always been a violent thorn in the side of the now-departing colonial government. An officer from the foreign office is the focus of the tale at hand. His father-in-law and his family have built up a large, prosperous farm there over many generations, of which he must abandon. A lukewarm argument about his rights implies he's greedy and racist, and that he and another farmer plan an armed rebellion against the new government confirm it. In the end, the new leader appointed by London is not the tainted-by-western-civilisation college guy,(He's revealed as a scheming, ruthless creep)but the big rebel who is culturally pure. He,Communist like Castro, has been living in the hills with his men, making armed raids for years, and the people adore him. Stock shots of African crowds cheering prove it. Everyone should admire heroic guerrilla rebels- they mean for good things to come they way of the downtrodden, right? And in truly a constant of this series, he goes to the trouble of explicitly getting it known he was ,and never would be a communist.In "Espionage", fear of communism is always shown to be some absurd superstition. the guerrilla's guns and supplies were not given to him by communist agitators, he wants it known. Just who did is not said. That Cuba made a decades-long commitment to supplying just such revolutionaries is of no import. In the end, the new boss asks the young diplomat to stay and help him, to advise him and put the new nation on the right path. Wouldn't that be nice if that had happened to any of those new countries when the colonials departed? Even by 1964 this could've been seen for what it is, another propaganda piece of mushy, blameless make-believe.
In this episode, the colonials are leaving the scene as diplomats in Whithall decide which of two men will be the new independent nation's leader. One's a suit-wearing, English-college-educated young man(a classmate of our hero), the other, a middle-aged,odd-clothed rebel leader who has always been a violent thorn in the side of the now-departing colonial government. An officer from the foreign office is the focus of the tale at hand. His father-in-law and his family have built up a large, prosperous farm there over many generations, of which he must abandon. A lukewarm argument about his rights implies he's greedy and racist, and that he and another farmer plan an armed rebellion against the new government confirm it. In the end, the new leader appointed by London is not the tainted-by-western-civilisation college guy,(He's revealed as a scheming, ruthless creep)but the big rebel who is culturally pure. He,Communist like Castro, has been living in the hills with his men, making armed raids for years, and the people adore him. Stock shots of African crowds cheering prove it. Everyone should admire heroic guerrilla rebels- they mean for good things to come they way of the downtrodden, right? And in truly a constant of this series, he goes to the trouble of explicitly getting it known he was ,and never would be a communist.In "Espionage", fear of communism is always shown to be some absurd superstition. the guerrilla's guns and supplies were not given to him by communist agitators, he wants it known. Just who did is not said. That Cuba made a decades-long commitment to supplying just such revolutionaries is of no import. In the end, the new boss asks the young diplomat to stay and help him, to advise him and put the new nation on the right path. Wouldn't that be nice if that had happened to any of those new countries when the colonials departed? Even by 1964 this could've been seen for what it is, another propaganda piece of mushy, blameless make-believe.