The film follows 75-year old grandfather Mike Campbell, his son-in-law Ben Freeth and their family over a period of approximately 18 months. White Zimbabwean farmers, they courageously refuse to hand over their Mount Carmel farm to Zanu PF thugs, despite frequent and intensifying violence, both threatened and actual.
One thing that particularly struck me from the footage covertly smuggled out of Zimbabwe was the extent to which the illegal farm seizures were endorsed and even orchestrated by high-ranking Zanu PF ministers. In the case of the Campbells / Freeths, their particular nemesis is the strangely amusing and articulate, yet menacing Peter Chamada (son of Nathan Shamuyarira, Zimbabwe's former secretary of information).
As they persevere with their legal test case at the SADC court in Namibia, to seek an official ruling that farm seizures are both illegal and racist, the bravery of the family consistently shines through. In fact, the film is inspirational and harrowing in equal measure, particularly when the family's unwavering courage is sorely tested by the growing intimidation. Throughout, there is a sense of the enemy circling the farm like wolves, waiting to pounce.
As the test case in Namibia progresses, albeit haltingly while Mugabe's legal team endlessly obfuscate, we see Ben's British parents, living in Kent, receive a panicked phone call from his wife, Laura. Mike, Mike's wife Angela and Ben, have been abducted and each beaten severely. The next ten minutes of the film are acutely upsetting, as we see the extent of the injuries that have been inflicted upon them. The sobbing was audible throughout the small cinema in which I saw the film: caused by recent, all too real torture, rather than a Hollywood dramatisation.
The outcome of the tribunal, and an SADC ruling that effectively denounces Mugabe's "land redistribution programme" is briefly uplifting. That is, until a post-script reveals what happened to the farm just six months after filming finished, and exposes the extent of Zanu-PF's nihilistic brutality.
I hope the family receives some kind of justice after all the persecution they endured in standing up to the corrupt regime, and refusing to just give up their family home and walk way. If nothing else, this brilliant film has once again reminded us of the horrors still being perpetrated within Zimbabwe, at a time when the superficial legitimacy created by the power-sharing government seems to have encouraged most of the world's press to move on to another story. A must see.
"We can run away of course. Most people have. If self-preservation is the goal then there is no sense in staying. For us, though, there is a greater good. It is a matter of principle. If individual men and women allow evil to advance unchecked, it will prevail and more people will suffer and starve. It is hard to live and try to make a difference in a time of terror — especially with a family." – Ben Freeth
One thing that particularly struck me from the footage covertly smuggled out of Zimbabwe was the extent to which the illegal farm seizures were endorsed and even orchestrated by high-ranking Zanu PF ministers. In the case of the Campbells / Freeths, their particular nemesis is the strangely amusing and articulate, yet menacing Peter Chamada (son of Nathan Shamuyarira, Zimbabwe's former secretary of information).
As they persevere with their legal test case at the SADC court in Namibia, to seek an official ruling that farm seizures are both illegal and racist, the bravery of the family consistently shines through. In fact, the film is inspirational and harrowing in equal measure, particularly when the family's unwavering courage is sorely tested by the growing intimidation. Throughout, there is a sense of the enemy circling the farm like wolves, waiting to pounce.
As the test case in Namibia progresses, albeit haltingly while Mugabe's legal team endlessly obfuscate, we see Ben's British parents, living in Kent, receive a panicked phone call from his wife, Laura. Mike, Mike's wife Angela and Ben, have been abducted and each beaten severely. The next ten minutes of the film are acutely upsetting, as we see the extent of the injuries that have been inflicted upon them. The sobbing was audible throughout the small cinema in which I saw the film: caused by recent, all too real torture, rather than a Hollywood dramatisation.
The outcome of the tribunal, and an SADC ruling that effectively denounces Mugabe's "land redistribution programme" is briefly uplifting. That is, until a post-script reveals what happened to the farm just six months after filming finished, and exposes the extent of Zanu-PF's nihilistic brutality.
I hope the family receives some kind of justice after all the persecution they endured in standing up to the corrupt regime, and refusing to just give up their family home and walk way. If nothing else, this brilliant film has once again reminded us of the horrors still being perpetrated within Zimbabwe, at a time when the superficial legitimacy created by the power-sharing government seems to have encouraged most of the world's press to move on to another story. A must see.
"We can run away of course. Most people have. If self-preservation is the goal then there is no sense in staying. For us, though, there is a greater good. It is a matter of principle. If individual men and women allow evil to advance unchecked, it will prevail and more people will suffer and starve. It is hard to live and try to make a difference in a time of terror — especially with a family." – Ben Freeth