South African photographer Kevin Carter won the Pulitzer Prize for this photo in 1994. In this famous "vulture waiting to eat a little girl", we can see a little girl who was tortured by hunger to the point of being scrawny and on the verge of death, crawling on the ground, and not far behind her is waiting for a tiger watching The vulture, the moment between the "hunter" and the "prey" gave the audience a strong visual impact, giving people a deeper perceptual understanding of the suffering of the African continent.
Going back to Johnny Mad Dog, the film is not directly related to the photo, but it is also about the harsh conditions of Africa. Unlike the famous "Hotel Rwanda" or "Blood Diamond", the director Jean-Stephen Saval, who has been engaged in documentary work for many years, makes this film also show a style similar to a documentary, with almost no personal emotions and ideological tendencies attached. , to maximize the real, original and shocking side to the audience.
This kind of treatment reminds me of the Brazilian film "City of God", except that in "City of God" it is drugs and money that make children pick up guns, while in "Johnny Mad Dog" it is politics and profit. Most of the child soldiers headed by Johnny are only fourteen or fifteen years old (or even younger), and they can understand national honor and disgrace or national hatred. They are just used tools and cannon fodder. The people who are snickering behind them are either rebels or opportunistic armed forces, but no one really cares about the lives of these children.
In the film, the director expresses the most about the corrupted nature of children, perhaps the "evil" inherent in human nature. Those who took up guns, in the name of instilled "justice", unscrupulously vented the madness and tyranny in their bodies. Robbery, rape, killing, all evil, their behaviors are no different from adults, but they form a great contrast with their still immature faces, which triggers a shocking artistic effect.
Alternating with the rampage of the child soldiers is another clue arranged by the director, the little girl La Okore uses a wheelbarrow to push her tragically dead father all over the world to find her lost brother. Kind, firm, persistent, and full of courage, Rao Cole is in stark contrast to those child soldiers possessed by hostility. When Rao Cole buried his father, he even recited a small Christian prayer. Interestingly, in the two encounters that Raokole and Johnny had, the first time Johnny let go of the girl unexpectedly, and the second time Raokore took Johnny's gun, And beat him hard, which is a bit against logic. Perhaps we can think that this role is a beautiful symbol arranged by the original author (or director), even if it is a little deliberate, but it is still a kind of expectation for an ideal vision.
Let's take a look at the ending of the photographer Kevin Carter at the beginning of the article. When he won the award, there was a lot of criticism, questioning why he didn't help the little girl at that time. A few months later, Carter committed suicide in his car at the age of 33. Regardless of whether the pressure of public opinion is the main reason for his suicide, it is undoubtedly a portrayal of the hypocritical attitude of the Western society towards Africa. It seems to be pitiful, but in fact it has taken the moral high ground. However, the situation in Africa has not changed in the slightest. Synonymous with poverty, hunger, disease, war.
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