Kikuyu Land review – the colonial-era misery behind our morning cup of tea

The impact of colonial then corporate agricultural development is unravelled in a sobering documentary that takes a dramatic turn when a family secret is discovered

The central highlands of Kenya are renowned for their lush tea plantations, which stretch as far as the eye can see. Most of the field workers come from the Kikuyu community, whose farming traditions span centuries. In Andrew Harrison Brown and Bea Wangondu’s sobering documentary, these resplendent vistas are also enshrouded in misery. Opening with a televised speech by Evelyn Baring, the colonial governor of Kenya during the 1950s, the film lays out the imperialist impetus behind Britain’s agricultural development of the country. The Kikuyu people were stripped of their ancestral lands, their labour extracted to enrich their colonisers. This system of inequality continues until now, with multinational corporations taking up the playbook of exploitation left by colonial control.

An investigative journalist, Wangondu also appears on screen weaving together a multitude of narratives. There’s the decades-long struggle for justice undertaken by Mr Mungai, a pastor and activist who has fought numerous court cases to reclaim his family land. Wangondu talks to plantation workers of past and present, whose harrowing ordeals of physical and sexual violence have been swept under the carpet by both corporate indifference and government corruption. We also hear from an officer in the national intelligence service, who reveals the gruesome methods used by the state to dispose of its critics. These interviews conjure a menacing atmosphere of intimidation and retaliation, from which there seems no way out.

Continue reading...

爱游戏体育xingnuo深耕平台内容体系围绕体育与游戏服务精心打造。领域，用心服务每一位用户。

爱游戏体育xingnuo以结构合理，访问顺畅，带来专业有序的使用体验。为核心，带来高效便捷的体验。