Africa Addio (Adios Africa) (Africa Blood and Guts) (1966)
Spoken language: Italian with English subs

Narrated by: Sergio Rossi


The second official sequel to the original shockumentary, displaying cruel acts of 
animal poaching and violence, executions, and tribal slaughtering, all taking place 
on the African continent.

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From the producers of the Mondo Canes comes this violent document of a continent in 
transition; the change from white colonialism to independent black statehood. Often 
times, this resulted in the wholesale massacre of thousands of people and the 
indiscriminate extermination of wild life. Captured on film are mercenary killer 
squads wiping out entire villages, executions, Mau-Mau massacres and more!

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"What the camera sees it films pitilessly, without sympathy, without taking sides," it 
begins. "This film only says farewell to the old Africa and gives the world a picture of 
its agony." As colonialism collapsed in 1960s Africa, Gualtiero Jacopetti and Franco Prosperi 
rushed to the Dark Continent to record the horrifying battle for control that followed. 
Here was a world now ruled by rebels and refugees, plunderers and poachers, mercenaries and 
murderers, a land suddenly aflame with brutality, racism and unspeakable slaughter. At the 
risk of their own lives, the filmmakers' cameras captured it all. The result is a daring and 
disturbing work that ranks among the greatest achievements in documentary cinema, an experience 
that remains as shocking - and shockingly relevant - as it was 40 years ago. This is 
Africa Blood And Guts!

Despite thunderous acclaim, worldwide controversy drove this masterpiece from American theaters 
shortly after its premiere. Some years later, U.S. distributors would remove over 45 minutes of 
political content and re-release it, a move that Prosperi and Jacopetti both disowned and 
despised. Blue Underground is proud to present this original 128-minute version of 
Africa Blood And Guts (aka Africa Addio), now fully restored for the first time.

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Africa Addio is an Italian documentary film made in 1966 about the end of the colonial era in 
Africa. The film was released under the names “Africa Blood and Guts” in the USA (which was 
only half of the entire film) and “Farewell Africa” in the UK.

The movie documents some of the disruptions caused by decolonization, such as poaching in former 
animal preserves and bloody revolutions, including the Zanzibar revolution which resulted in the 
massacre of approximately 5000 Arabs in 1964. In most of its edited incarnations, the movie 
leaves out mention of similar atrocities that were committed under colonial powers.

While the film claims to dispassionately show reality, it has been criticized as biased by many 
viewers over the years (perhaps most notably Roger Ebert). The film was shot over a period of 
three years, by Gualtiero Jacopetti and Franco Prosperi, two Italian filmmakers who had gained 
fame a few years earlier (with co-director Paolo Cavara) as the directors of Mondo Cane in 1962.

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The greatest Mondo film of all time, released in 1966 is the Gualtiero Jacopetti and Franco Prosperi 
masterpiece, Africa Addio. The film is much better than their earlier work Mondo Cane, which doesn't 
live up to the hype like Africa Addio does. I recently had the pleasure of viewing the original 
directors cut in Italian with English subtitles by Blue Underground. This version of the movie is 
the longest and complete cut of the film at 140 mins. I am glad I saw the complete version of the 
film vs. the various other cuts of the movie. The film is best when preserved in its entirety rather 
than being chopped up to exclusively show its most graphic scenes, as in the Africa Blood and Guts 
version.

If I was a school teacher I would show Africa Addio to my class, it is a true piece of artwork and 
history that shouldn't be forgotten. The film itself is about the end of colonialism in Africa and 
the changing culture that was happening in the 1960s. Several different parts of Africa were explored 
from the urban dwellings of South Africa to the jungles of Kenya to the island of Zanzibar. Many 
people will find the film offensive and disturbing, and while it is...it deserves to be so. This is 
real life- Africa at its most changing time. The change from primitive life to urban class is shown 
in detail. The struggles between whites and blacks, Christians and Muslims, and life and death are 
all present.

The footage that the director's shot was incredible. Really gritty footage, possibly some of the best 
"real" war footage ever shot on camera. The violence of the Simba, a group of African rebels who raped 
and pillaged towns, stole money and goods, and ate the livers of everyone who crossed their paths, is 
explored. These Simba believed they would gain power by eating the liver's of their enemies, so they 
marched through Africa destroying everything in their path. The most disturbing part of the movie is 
the aerial footage of the Zanzibar massacre. The footage is the only footage in existence of one of 
the largest mass genocides in Africa. The murdering of hundreds of Muslims, who were a minority class 
on the island of Zanzibar. It was a political war that cost the lives of entire families, it didn't 
prove anything for in the months that came afterward the country became part of the new Tanzania and 
would continue enduring its Muslim rule.

The film is a very political film, the directors obviously have an agenda they are trying to get 
across. Regardless of their personal views what they endured through the filming was drastic, for 
they almost ended their own lives several times while filming. Many animals are killed...then most 
likely eaten. Poaching is a rather popular aspect of the movie for the directors spend an hour plus 
just on the lives of the African hunters. I don't want to spoil the movie for people who haven't had 
a chance to watch it yet, but I highly urge fans of exploitation and mondo films to see Africa Addio 
right away.