ByTowne ByTowne Cinema
ByTowne Cinema
325 Rideau St. Ottawa K1N 5Y4
Info Line: (613) 789-FILM
The Ambassador
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In The Ambassador, director and star Mads Brügger puts himself at greater risk, perhaps accidently, than any documentarian I’ve ever seen.
The film starts with the revelation that anyone can buy a diplomatic title to an impoverished African nation from another impoverished African nation, provided you can get access to the kind of morally bankrupt people you would expect to broker that kind of deal. The reason someone might want to pay to become the ambassador to somewhere like the Central African Republic is that as an ambassador, you are protected from prosecution should you attempt to smuggle blood diamonds out of the country. Which is exactly what Mads is proposing to do.
Posing as a racist caricature of an ‘ugly European’, he secretly films dozens of completely candid conversations with C.A.R. officials, diamond miners and the secret powerbrokers of Africa, the contents of which are so transparently illegal and immoral that they are frequently darkly funny and always amazing. As the film continues, you realize what enormous danger Mads is in.
The footage that is not filmed through secret cameras often looks like it belongs in a major motion picture. While the images of Mads posing like a 19th century British imperialist are certainly shot with humour in mind, they are always beautifully shot and directed, giving the entire film the air of a narrative drama.
While The Ambassador might be dismissed as something akin to a Sasha Baron Cohen movie, it is far more than that. Mads Brügger has created a documentary piece that is both an entertaining narrative and an advocacy piece and done it at enormous personal risk. That the film is also funny, beautifully shot and incredibly engaging is an amazing achievement.
– James Verniere, The Boston Herald
Benefit for the One World Film Festival
All seats $10. Sorry, no passes or Membership discounts.
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