The Ambassador (2012)

It seems that all the less than positive reviews of this film have failed to realize the genre of the film--that is absurdism. Attempting to create an argument through logical and deductive reasoning--in the sense that everything be perfectly scripted and organized--utterly fails to consider the wider spectroscope of human nature. Absurdism tends to lends itself a generous victim to narrow and short-sighted attacks and criticism-- searching for meaning in an otherwise meaningless reality. Welcome to the wold of contradiction and compromise--in other words--reality. Watching or reading such genres never fails to stoke up some amount of internal conflict--yet somehow feel an awkward (e.g. absurd) connection.

Mads Brugger plays his character well as an under cover shady diplomat. It is humorous simply because you know he is faking it and everyone around him is taking him seriously.The fact of the matter is that Mads Brugger was really risking his life to get this footage. There was no abort button, if things went horribly wrong we wouldn't even have this documentary. I would have liked him to go deeper into the shadow-world of Africa, but the fact of the matter is that he could have ended up dead in a ditch. He is lucky that he did not.This is not a documentary about morals, it is simply a documentary about how easy it is for the wealthy to become involved in corrupt government. It shows how far money can go in a corrupt society. The fact of the matter is that as stated in the movie, 2,500 of people were registered as Ambassadors to that single country in one year. That is just to give you an idea of how many wealthy people are living this lifestyle.

The Ambassador looks like a ninety minute version of the television news program 60 Minutes, with only Mike Wallsce jumping out for a confrontation missing. A Danish man finds a couple of different companies who sell diplomatic credentials for cash. Using a series of videos from hidden cameras, he shows the widespread corruption which crosses all national and racial boundaries. A major problem is, although most of the meetings are in English, many are in French, without translation. He buys an official diplomacy for $130,000 and sets up a match factory with an Indian guy as cover for diamond mining. Thousands of such "diplomacies" are uncovered by the filmmaker, which isn't a big surprise to anyone who watches the news. Everyone has a price, as the saying goes, and even here in America, we have over 30,000 lobbyists, who bribe government officials every day to pass laws favorable to their clients.As far as the documentary goes, it is extremely redundant, with endless meetings with officials being paid off for helping the "diplomat" do business in Africa. The Ambassador is done with a satirical bent, but is never very funny, given the subject matter in the end, which is blood diamonds. Overall, it is a sad commentary on the human race; we are all doomed.

Mads Brügger - whose last documentary consisted entirely of ultra rare recordings from deep inside North Korea - is releasing a new documentary; this time about corruption in the Central African Republic (CAR). Not posing as a diplomat, but having bribed his way to actual diplomatic immunity, Mads travels to the capital Bangui to set up a consulate and mingle with shady businessmen and poor, clueless locals.A lot of the footage has been captured with hidden cameras, hence of less than perfect quality, the rest with a Canon 5D which no-one in the entire country recognized as a film camera. Real life crooks exposing themselves include European dealers of diplomatic passports, local criminals / businessmen, the now dead chief of the CAR secret service and some international diplomats.It appears corruption is more widespread than most would assume. Illegal trading in diamonds is much more widespread than most could imagine. And that France, the former colonial master, is still meddling in affairs there - in a completely amoral fashion.A must-see for anyone interested in foreign aid, blood diamonds, international diplomacy, the exploitation of Africa or just how to do a documentary. Genre-wise it is related to the works of Michael Moore and Sacha Baron Cohen, I'd say. Don't miss it.