Educational Media Reviews Online

Africa seems to get scant coverage from the mainstream media. Many foreign news bureaus have been closed for budgetary reasons. Moreover, because many African locations frequently lack five star hotels, restaurants and other amenities, many high flying correspondents avoid Africa. This is unfortunate because Americans need to be more aware of Africa in today’s global environment.

Pray the Devil Back to Hell is one of the best recent documentaries about Africa. The story of how the women of Liberia banded together to end a bloody civil war and the tyrannical rule of Charles Taylor is both inspiring and significant.

Liberia was founded in 1847 by former American slaves. The descendents of these former slaves ruled the country for most of its history until a military coup led by Samuel E. Doe overthrew them in the nineteen eighties. The coup led to a civil war with the eventual ascendency of Charles Taylor in 1997.

Taylor used child soldiers to bolster his criminal regime and was responsible for numerous atrocities committed by his underage combatants. Corrupt local warlords rose to challenge Taylor and converted the Liberian countryside into a nightmare of rape and robbery for innocent civilians.

Finally, after years of chaos and devastation, ordinary Liberian women, from all walks of life, joined together to organize and pray for peace. Organized by Leymah Gobowee, The Liberian Mass Action for Peace was a coalition of Christian and Muslim women dedicated to ending the mayhem and murder. Using non violent tactics and sit-ins, these white tee-shirted women captured the nation’s attention.

Forcing a meeting with Taylor, the women activists extracted a promise from him to attend peace talks in Ghana along with the warlords. Under the leadership of Leymah Gobowee, a delegation of women continued to apply pressure during the international talks in Ghana attended by African presidents. Eventually, Taylor left for Nigeria and an interim UN sponsored government was set up incorporating the warlords. Finally, stable government returned with the election of Ellen Johnson Sirleaf as Liberia’s president (Africa’s first women president) in 2005.

Pray the Devil Back to Hell uses personal interviews, television clips, on location and archival film footage to tell a compelling story. Film editing was nicely done and avoids tedium even in long interviews. Shocking, horrific footage of the child soldiers was well integrated with film of the women’s struggle to become the conscience of their nation. In addition, several surprising dissolves of Charles Taylor made him seem genuinely frightening. Easy-to-read English subtitles were provided to enhance understanding of the accented Liberian English dialog. Chapter access was not available on my examination copy of the DVD, but the documentary offered both sixty and seventy two minute versions

Pray the Devil Back to Hell has gotten many favorable media reviews, including from NPR’s Bob Mondello and Christian Science Monitor’s Pete Rainer. I totally agree with their evaluations. Pray the Devil Back to Hell is an important, thoughtful documentary that should be in all university and college libraries that have African history or women’s studies programs. I highly recommend it.