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Ethiopian film explores nation’s recent violent past

Posted on , Updated on by Elias Kifle

By Mike Collett-White

VENICE (Reuters) – A powerful new film chronicles the life of an Ethiopian intellectual who flees his country during the Marxist “red terror” in the 1980s, only to be viciously attacked in Germany by racist youths.

Actors (from left) Evelyn Arthur Johnson, Veronika
Avraham, Aaron Arefe and Abeye Tedla [Photo: AFP]

Anberber, the central character, returns to his homeland longing for peace, but life with his mother in a small village is disrupted by armed factions dragging boys away to fight and by prying locals wary of a man they consider to be an outsider.

“Teza”, by Ethiopian director Haile Gerima, is one of 21 movies in competition at the Venice film festival, and warm applause after a press screening suggested it would be a contender for prizes at the closing ceremony on Saturday.

The story jumps between multiple timelines, but in each Anberber struggles to fit in, be it in his native Ethiopia or in exile in Germany.

Gerima said “Teza” reflected his own experiences, and was based on a recurring dream.

“The dream is basically about intellectual displacement,” he told reporters in Venice on Tuesday.

“When I translated my dream it was about being displaced, unable to live up to your peasant life, your peasant family and at the same time reconcile (that) with your modern world.”

Anberber seeks refuge in memories of his happy childhood, something U.S.-based Gerima said he also did whenever he returned to Ethiopia which he described as “a nightmare for me.”

“Like Anberber in the film I like to drown (in) the past.”

“I go to Ethiopia and I dream my past but the present is so powerful it continues to hijack my sentimental journey to my childhood. I think it’s the idea that you want your childhood world to come back, I think that is universal.”

“In Africa the luxury to remember memory is hijacked by daily violence, either silent violence or obvious violence.”

DEATH AND DANGER

Some of the most striking scenes are set in the 1980s, with Ethiopia in the grip of purges, show trials, executions and mob lynchings under the leadership of Mengistu Haile Mariam, who seized power in 1974 after Emperor Haile Selassie’s overthrow.

Giant portraits of Marx, Engels and Lenin form the backdrop to the violence and fear, and Anberber’s revolutionary fervour quickly turns to disillusionment as he realises what the regime means for himself and his country.

Actor Abeye Tedla, who plays Anberber’s best friend and fellow idealist, recalled some of the horrors of that time which he lived through as a child.

“I’ve seen a few bodies when I was going to school and coming back. It wasn’t uncommon.”

“As you were walking by there would be a guard standing there so nobody removes the body. And if you look too closely … the person would say ‘Do you know this person?’ And I mean literally you could get shot if the person suspected you.”

He praised Gerima for what he said was a balanced portrayal of those times in Ethiopia.

“It (the story) just looks at what happens when people stop thinking constructively and start thinking destructively.”

4 thoughts on “Ethiopian film explores nation’s recent violent past”

  1. A few things smell fishy:

    1) Why is almost 20years ago refered to ‘recent’ past?

    2) Why is that people, Tigreans in particular, always bring up the Dergue Era and how bad things were whenever Woyane hits bottom usually? As if, to excuse Woyane crimes? Which are 10X worst then Dergue if you look at it crime by crime, especially treason and knowingly and fundamentally changing Ethiopia forever for the worst, so they can possibly and at the worst time claim independence for the Republic of Tigray? If so, the people of Tigray are systematically playing to that tune and they should be found guilty!

    3) I challange this film maker, ANY FILMAKER to make a detailed account of treason, selling of lands, secret deals to liberate Eritrea, to kill amhara’s/oromo’s intentionally in the war with Eritrea, create an illegal and unfair distribution of wealth to mainly Tigreans and opportunists,etc….so much to say…AND TO PLEASE NOT WAIT 20 OR 50 YEARS BEFORE MAKING SUCH FILMS!!

  3. Did you say the Woyane aggression is worse than that of the Dergue? You must be dreaming or one who of those who carried the agression during the rule of the junta. More than a million people perished under the Dergue and you write to tell us that it was nothing compared to what is happening now. It is one thing to tell the story of what is happening now, but the atrocities of the Dergue have few equals in the modern day history.

  4. It is typical of EPRDF to reminisce and retell stories of the Derg era while a more compelling one is underway. I feel the pain of those hurt by the Derg and I know horrible are the deeds of the Derg. However, it should not be used to justify the atrocities by EPRDF. After all, they are both killing innocent Ethiopias to further their own interest. The only difference is that, according to the CIA report, EPRDF is willing to sell the people and destroy the country for anything.

    I wish Gerima and co. could make movies about the atrocities of EPRDF so that we can rally stop it rather than crying for the distant past. Act for what is happening now than cry for already happened in the past. There is no point that Gerima and co. can make with the movie. They can show no new things that we do not know about the Derg. Instead, they should let us know and the world what is happening now. If they are afraid, they should just lay back.

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