Educational Media Reviews Online

The history of the Rhenish mission to Southwest Africa that began in 1829 serves as the hub in Jean-Marie Teno’s informative critique of European colonialism in Africa. Focusing primarily on what is now Namibia, the film explores the initial evangelical undertaking in the 1840s, goes on to discuss the politics, economics and ideology of colonialism in the 1870s and 1880s, and then discusses the legacy of colonialism in the present. The film argues that though sometimes conflicted in their tasks of spreading the Gospel and spreading the ideology and policies of colonialism, the German evangelical missionaries of the nineteenth century facilitated the goals of the German state. Teno, who wrote, directed and produced Le Malentendu Colonial, concludes that these missionaries were co-opted and used as agents of social and racial inequality; and that the word of God was misused in order to suppress and oppress Africans and exploit them and their land. The narrative relies on the testimony of numerous African and European university professors, historians, Church and mission archivists and museum curators to make his case and demonstrate the nuances in the history, but it is the scenes of modern-day Namibia that punctuates the film and takes us inside the present day truly African evangelical Church and engages the audience with its music and culture.

The title Le Malentendu Colonial refers to the European misunderstanding of the African concept of private property. While Europeans maintained their Western idea of private property in local dealings, according to historian Paulin Oloukpona-Yinnon, for Africans the land was held in common and belonged to the ancestors: “the land could be transferred or even sold symbolically, because what was being sold wasn’t the land itself, but the use of the land.” It is not surprising, then, that conflict would arise from this misunderstanding. There was also, however, a broader misunderstanding by Europeans of African culture and religion. One central theme that runs through the film is the missionaries’ rejection of African traditions and culture and their misguided attempt to Europeanize Africa—to take a European model of Christianity and society as the norm and reject what was African. These missionaries assumed that civilization and Christianity could only be established on a European, particularly German, model. They could not comprehend a uniquely African Christianity with its own rules. Teno eventually concludes that Africa needs to be itself; to enhance and recover its own roots, culture and religion/Christianity on an African model.

Teno juxtaposes this European approach against an example taken from Cameroon. Until recently overlooked, the first missionary there was a non-European black named Joseph Merrick who founded the first Christian Cameroon Evangelical Church with former slaves. As opposed to European missionaries, Merrick lived amongst the people and integrated with them completely. Whereas Merrick’s gospel accepted the people for who they were, the Europeans demanded that only those who conformed to the European structure could become Christians. When Merrick died in 1849, however, his work was consumed within the European model and the idea of “the Gospel as a tool of liberation” was lost.

The film shifts attention from the early evangelical years to a more specific colonialism and illustrates the interrelatedness of the work of the missionaries with late-nineteenth century economic demands for trade of raw materials generated by the Industrial Revolution. By the 1870s and 1880s Europeans decided they needed to “cure” Africans of their “savagery” by bringing them God and civilization; this would serve to justify the excesses of European colonization. To civilize became: " to persuade the victims that the atrocities inflicted upon them are necessary for their development.” In 1884-85 the Berlin Conference marked a turning point in policy toward African colonization. Organized by Bismarck, this conference of European nations, with a conspicuous absence of Africans, conspired to divide Africa for their own economic interests. This amounted to a conscious decision by European powers to not go to war with each other over colonies, but a willingness to wage war against Africans to maintain their hold. Participants at the conference agreed that missionaries were among the best propagators of the “civilizing” message they would export to Africans. Of course, they could only reproduce the kind of civilization—the system of beliefs, economics, politics and social organization-- they knew on the western model and thus after the Berlin Conference, Africa became an Africa of the Europeans, not of the Africans.

Inequalities and abuses of colonialization culminated in war between the Herrero population and Germany in 1904. The film considers the conflicted role of the Rhenish missionaries in the war and the genocide that was its aftermath, where perhaps tens of thousands of Herrero men, women and children perished as well as vast numbers of the Nama people who joined the fight.

Teno presents us with a film that is not just historically relevant, but demands critical thinking about present policies towards African development. He shows how finally in the 1950s large numbers of Africans left the Rhenish Mission and in 1954 founded their own Evangelical Lutheran Church of Namibia. In this way Africans reclaimed their God and their Church on an African model that was liberating and inspirational. He points out that the roots of Namibian apartheid are found in the legislation and policies of its German colonial background and points out that this new Church stood in the vanguard in the fight against apartheid. The United Evangelical Mission calls for Germany to apologize and take responsibility for the legacy of colonialism, for its crimes and racism and to help rebuild Namibian housing and infrastructure. The director calls for an awareness of the need for a change of policy towards Africa. More generally the film calls for modern European nations to critically examine their colonial pasts and rethink their present-day policies of charity that are actually akin to the colonial mentality of the past. It also argues that Africans themselves need to get back to their roots and traditions, for the continent to regain its soul.