Days of Cannibalism (2020)

Directed by: Teboho Edkins | 79 minutes | documentary

A culture clash on the African plateau. The kingdom of Lesotho breathes something mysterious: in the only country in the world that lies entirely at an altitude of more than a thousand meters, the population lives according to traditions and rituals. Because the country as an enclave is completely enclosed by South Africa and difficult to reach due to its mountain landscape, the Basotho, who make up the largest part of the population of Lesotho, have long lived isolated. The people mainly consist of herders of cows and sheep and move mainly by horse. For the Basotho, their livestock is their wealth: the more cows and sheep you have, the richer you are. Only if there really is no other option, do you sell an animal. How different it is for the Chinese traveling salesmen who often try their luck these days, especially in unexplored Africa. The Chinese strive for maximum profit with minimum cost and their expansion drive has now also reached the plateaus of Lesotho. It will come as no surprise to anyone that two cultures so far apart do not form a natural symbiosis. Teboho Edkins, an American filmmaker who spent much of his childhood in Lesotho (his first name means ‘gratitude’ in Sotho), spent four years following developments in and around the town of Thaba-Tseka, where the local population watches Chinese traders advance.

‘Days of Cannibalism’ is not a straightforward documentary; voice-overs, title cards, talking heads or any form of interpretation are omitted. As a result, it is quite a bit of looking for something to hold on to in the beginning and if you have not read the synopsis in advance, it only becomes clear halfway through what the common thread is. Before that, we are treated to beautiful views of the impressive mountain landscape of Lesotho. Edkins himself sees parallels in this with the traditional western, in which the original inhabitants of the country are overrun by newcomers, pioneers with their own ideas of how life should be arranged. Okay, there’s horseback riding and a bull to be lassoed, but that’s where the Western genre comparison ends. In the first half of the film, we mainly see many concrete forms of the extent to which the Chinese and the Basotho are now intertwined: Chinese shop owners employing only Africans, Basotho in work clothes with Asian names on the back. It soon becomes clear that for the Basotho cattle (‘gods with wet noses’) is of vital importance, especially when we are allowed to watch a session in a courtroom. Two Basotho men are accused of stealing 15 cows and selling some of them to Chinese traders. “There is hardly any work and we have to support our families,” explains one of the perpetrators in defense. But the judge is inexorable and sentences the repeat offenders to no less than ten years in prison. “We have to act,” he says. It is only from this penetrating court scene that the film has our full attention.

While the references to the friction between the two population groups were extremely subtle before that moment (perhaps too subtle), they are more straightforward in the second half of the film. Prejudice, racism and mistrust go back and forth. “However long they work for you, they will steal from you,” say two Chinese traders. “They rip us off and exploit us,” a Basotho troubadour advertises at a bar. The conscience, the ‘voice of reason’, is formed by the DJ of the local radio station, who suggests that the Chinese and Basotho should draw closer to each other, in order to learn from each other. ‘The Chinese should teach us how to set up such a successful supermarket. We in turn can tell them how to treat the livestock.’ Because that is perhaps what stings the Basotho the most: where they treat the animals with love, after all it is their income, retirement provision and life insurance in one, the Chinese simply see cows and sheep as commodities. But with their fat wallets they can buy the best, most beautiful and largest copies on the market in front of the poor local population. Edkins observes and does his utmost to show that it is not easy for the Chinese either; that they too are treated with suspicion, have had to make sacrifices and feel lonely and alienated. Nevertheless, you can’t help but feel that his sympathy lies mainly with the Basotho.

A little more explanation would certainly have lifted this documentary about a disrupted balance of power and other dark sides of globalization to a higher level. Because the subject of economic migration and its impact on these untapped rural communities is extremely interesting. Ancient structures are fading and giving way to a new world order in which the question is: who is eating and who is being eaten? As long as the two groups remain diametrically opposed to each other and do not seek rapprochement, mutual tension will continue to rise.