This politically tinged melodrama, filmed in South Africa prior to that benighted nation's collapse into social anarchy, is plagued by a jumbled production effort, unfortunate in the event as a good deal of meritorious enterprise is contained within its essential design that depicts various modes of manipulation utilized by purveyors of public media during the process of creating a newsworthy event. Broadcast journalist Lisa Ford (Gayle Hunnicut), in tandem with cameraman Joe (Siegfried Rauch), journeys to a fanciful southern African nation wherein a " People's Brigade" guerrilla group, led by one "Matari" (Destroyer), played by Ken Gampu, has abducted two young women as hostages for the purpose of attracting attention to the cause of the rebels, but when Lisa and Joe meet Matari, she finds that he is a former acquaintance, Eddie Ancona, with whom she had shared classes at Oxford, although Lisa's pleasant discovery is tainted when she and Joe become additional hostages for utilization as propaganda, a circumstance determined by the Brigade's number two in command, zealous Cuban adviser Ramon (James Faulkner). Installments of Lisa and Joe's exploits are regularly being dispatched to London where their filmed material, meant to be preachment, is being cut and redesigned by their British network's Programs Controller (Trevor Howard), along with assistant Don (Graham Armitage), as the Controller ponders "what kind of program I'm making". Events on the ground in Africa become increasingly violent as Materi realises, in short order, that corruption within the freshly autonomous nation's "Northern Territory" has not been moderated while under black rule. Lisa and Joe are also faced with having to select those types of political activities they will be shooting, also a form of censorship, while one of the film's many continuity flaws results from a lack of explanation as to the process used in transmitting their footage to England. One of the kidnapped women, Ann Belinda Mayne), is apparently a perfect match for the sullen but charismatic Ramon, and potent effects from the Stockholm Syndrome (when hostages become sympathetic toward the actions and beliefs of their captors) come to be highly significant components of the screenplay, actually conveying the film's largest emotional wallop, while girdling together the narrative. Faulkner, who also produces here, handily gathers in the acting laurels. However, a heavily edited final version, in ironic juxtaposition with the screenplay, leaves a surfeit of gaps in logic and raises hob with the largely outdoor compositions of expert cinematographer Vincent Cox. Notwithstanding its many flaws, this picture will be consistently interesting to many viewers.
2 Reviews
Heavy-handed portrayal of news manipulation
lor_15 February 2023
My review was written in January 1985 after watching the film on Media Home Entertainment video cassette.
"Flashpoint Africa" is a very heavy-handed political thriller filmed in 1978 under the original title "One Take Two" (which refers to a phrase recited in place of a clapperboard before a documentary scene is shot). Theatrically unreleased, film is now available on video cassette.
Gayle Hunnicutt toplines a a too-posh looking newshen Lisa Ford, who, together with her cameraman Joe (Siegfried Rauch) gets involved with rebel forces in a Black African country in the midst of a post-independence revolution. Accompanied by a camera-shy Cuban advisor Ramon (played unconvincingly with phony accent by the film's co-producer James Faulkner), they are led to Matari (Ken Gampu), the rebel leader who just happens to be an old Oxford college chum of Ford's. He has kidnapped two girls (Belinda Mayne and Deidre Bates), whose plight is focusing media attention on his rebel cause.
In trying to make a statement concerning managed news and the lack of objectivity in making news documentaries, director Franci Megahy resorts to a very awkward structure, framing "Flashpoint" with frequent cuts back to a London editing room where network programmes controller Trevor Howard is deciding which footage will be deleted and how the docu lensed by Lisa and Joe will be put together. In a ridiculous audience-cheating device, Megahy presents the "Flashpoint" viewer with loads of material that Howard cannot see, in order to hammer home the point that Howard is acting as a self-serving censor. Although gratuitous material such as the pretty kidnapped girls (who become radicalized conveniently a la Patty Hearst) is included, "Flashpoint" emerges as more of a tract than entertainment.
Cast is uninspired (Hunnicutt and Faulkner are miscast, as stated) and tech credits subpar, particularly the crude direct-sound recording.
"Flashpoint Africa" is a very heavy-handed political thriller filmed in 1978 under the original title "One Take Two" (which refers to a phrase recited in place of a clapperboard before a documentary scene is shot). Theatrically unreleased, film is now available on video cassette.
Gayle Hunnicutt toplines a a too-posh looking newshen Lisa Ford, who, together with her cameraman Joe (Siegfried Rauch) gets involved with rebel forces in a Black African country in the midst of a post-independence revolution. Accompanied by a camera-shy Cuban advisor Ramon (played unconvincingly with phony accent by the film's co-producer James Faulkner), they are led to Matari (Ken Gampu), the rebel leader who just happens to be an old Oxford college chum of Ford's. He has kidnapped two girls (Belinda Mayne and Deidre Bates), whose plight is focusing media attention on his rebel cause.
In trying to make a statement concerning managed news and the lack of objectivity in making news documentaries, director Franci Megahy resorts to a very awkward structure, framing "Flashpoint" with frequent cuts back to a London editing room where network programmes controller Trevor Howard is deciding which footage will be deleted and how the docu lensed by Lisa and Joe will be put together. In a ridiculous audience-cheating device, Megahy presents the "Flashpoint" viewer with loads of material that Howard cannot see, in order to hammer home the point that Howard is acting as a self-serving censor. Although gratuitous material such as the pretty kidnapped girls (who become radicalized conveniently a la Patty Hearst) is included, "Flashpoint" emerges as more of a tract than entertainment.
Cast is uninspired (Hunnicutt and Faulkner are miscast, as stated) and tech credits subpar, particularly the crude direct-sound recording.
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