Michael Mundia Kamau
P.O. Box 58972
00200 City Square
Nairobi
Kenya

17th June 2004

                      TROY

The epic motion picture “Troy” which features the unification of Greece
3,200 years ago, has just concluded showing in Kenyan theatres courtesy
of Fox Theartes (East Africa) Limited. The making of “Troy” sustains a
tradition of historical films like “The Passion of the Christ”,
“Armistad”, “Cold Mountain”, “Dances with Wolves”, “Joan of Arc”, “The Outlaw Josie
Wells”, “Glory”, “Gladiator”, “Hidalgo”, “Saving Private Ryan”, “The
Killing Fields”, “The Fourth of July”,  “BraveHeart”, “Shogun Mayeda”, “Apollo
13”, “Out of Africa”, “The Last Samurai” and “Schindler’s list”. A
production of a film on Alexander of Macedonia is underway and will hopefully be
released worldwide towards the end of the year.

These efforts at preserving history cannot go unnoticed and
uncommended. Meticulous attention is given to high quality reconstruction of events
and the heavy input of historians, sociologists and anthropologists in the
film productions is clearly discernible. The mourning costumes and
ceremonies during the funeral of Trojan Prince Hector in “Troy”, are one such
example of meticulous reconstruction of history. The overall benefits from this
are tremendous. Major parts of the highly successful film sequel “Lord of
the Rings”, were shot in New Zealand and tourism in New Zealand has
benefited tremendously from this as a result of highly priced tourist tour
packages, eager to get a glimpse of the sites.

Kenya has wasted numerous opportunities over the years to produce a
film venture as successful as “Troy” or “Gladiator”. It is unforgivable that
“The Ghost and the Darkness”, a historical film about the construction of
the Kenya-Uganda railway and the distress wrought by the man eating lions
of Tsavo then, was shot in South Africa. It is unbelievable to hear that
the producers of “The Ghost and the Darkness” had initially selected Kenya
as the filming location, but changed this after officials of the Ministry
of Information and Broadcasting asked for heavy bribes. This clearly shows
the total disdain and total contempt that Kenyans have for everything and
everyone including ourselves. We hold abosultely nothing sacred and
revere no one. This is the reason why our customs and cultures have floundered
and failed to flourish. A film on the epic eleven year old Nandi resistance
of 1895-1905 for instance, should have been concluded by now. This will
however  remain impossible as long as we continue to glorify contemporary
cultures like hip-hop, at the expense of our own rich history.

The United States of America is undeniably the cradle and capital of
the youthful motion picture industry, and Americans have never lacked time
for us. High profile Americans have consistently come to Kenya over the
years including President Johnson’s Vice President, Hubert Humphrey,
President Ford’s Secretary of State, Henry Kissinger, President Carter’s
Secretary of State Cyrus Vance, President Reagan’s Vice President George Bush,
President Reagan’s Secretary of State, George Schultz, President Clinton’s
Secretary of State, Madeleine Albright and President Bush’s Secretary of State,
Colin Powell. President Jimmy Carter sent his son to represent him at the
1978 burial of Kenya’s founding president, Mzee Jomo Kenyatta. A number of
Kenyans have accused recently deceased American president, Ronald
Reagan, of being a racist and propping up apartheid South Africa. If this is so,
why did he allow Bush and Schultz to come to Kenya during his tenure ? If
this is so, why didn’t Reagan make the Ku Klux Klan the symbol of America,
the same way that Hitler made the swastika the symbol of Nazi Germany ? If
this is so, why did the brilliant careers of African-Americans like Colin
Powell, Michael Jackson, Quincy Jones and Michael Jordan evolve during Reagan’s
tenure ? Michael Jackson and Quincy Jones still hold the distinction of
partnering the most successful music album of all time, 1982’s
“Thriller”, and one wonders why the two have not gotten together again since. If
the claims against Reagan are true, why wasn’t Kenya at the forefront of
supporting the dismantling of apartheid by hosting ANC camps like
Tanzania ?

Kenya has certainly not taken advantage of it’s useful links with
America over the years to spread it’s culture. A Hollywood film executive would
be more than honoured to get a telephone call from an American Vice
President or American Secretary of State, asking them to consider a film project
on Kenya’s history. He or she would probably answer the telephone call
standing up as it is said that Kenyan Provincial and District Commissioners used
to during the tenure of Internal Security Permanent Secretary, Hezeekiah
Oyugi.

It is strange why we haven’t taken advantage of these opportunities and
renders our lobbies ineffective.

For many years also, Kenyans have been made to believe that we openly
dishonour and disrespect men and women who have  made valuable
contributions to our nation. Nelson Mandela, the symbol of Black pride, reinforced
this belief by remarks he made during his visit of Kenya in July 1990. Eight
years ago however, “The People Daily” carried an interesting feature on
how the family of Mau Mau general, Dedan Kimathi, was long ago allocated 25
acres of land complete with a farmhouse. How many other similar
misrepresentations of Kenya’s history are there ? The problem is not
our culture, the problem is not America, the problem is not Reagan, the
problem is us.



Michael Mundia Kamau