[ 2011-11-24 ]

Mr Rawlings is said to have been featured prominently in the movie

Big movie on Ghana’s 2008 elections out
A movie on Ghana's 2008 General Elections has been
released. It features Nana Akufo-Addo, John Atta
Mills, Jerry Rawlings, John Kufuor, Afari-Gyan,
Kwesi Pratt, Hannah Tetteh, Rojo Mettle-Nunoo and
Kwabena Agyepong, among others, and it has
received great reviews across the globe, with the
Los Angeles Times describing the documentary
feature film as “the gripping examination of
Ghana's 2008 presidential contest on display.”

It is a movie, which is likely to reignite the
kind of sensation that gripped the nation after
the cable releases from Wikileaks.

The film which premiered in London last night is
aptly titled, "An African Election".

The 2008 presidential elections in Ghana serve as
a backdrop for this feature documentary that looks
behind the scenes at the complex political
machinery of a third-world democracy struggling to
legitimise itself.

The movie portrays how perilously close we got to
unleashing electoral violence as it shows footage
of young teenagers being trained as militias with
wooden guns wearing NDC T-Shirts.

Ghanaians in the UK were rushing for tickets
yesterday at the Gate Cinema, Notting Hill Gate,
London, where the two directors were ready to take
questions after the movie.

When asked about why Jerry Rawlings was given a
lot of air time in the film which came across as
one sided, the director Jarreth Merz said he
(Rawlings) was seen as being somewhat of a "sex
symbol" in Ghana. By that, Merz meant people
idolised Rawlings and would therefore expect to
see him featured prominently in a film such as
this.

Merz was asked why the NPP were under-represented
in the film. Merz's response was to say that he
tried to get access and interviews with the NPP
but all were busy. He went on to say that the film
isn't about the NPP and NDC (in fact all the
political parties were featured in the film,
including the independents) "the film was made for
a broader audience," he said. The most important
aspect of the film was to show that "democracy is
very fragile and can't be taken for granted"

Merz said the film was intended to show a success
story - "an example of how Ghana made democracy
better by letting the people decide".

Where were the women in politics? Hannah Tetteh
featured but she was the only woman interviewed.
According to Merz, he wanted to talk to women and
attempted to do so but they wouldn't talk, perhaps
because they didn't feel comfortable talking to a
man.

Merz mentioned that for a long time he had
rejected his roots and making the film was like a
home-coming.

Source - The New Statesman

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