A Man from the Congo River (Kongon Akseli)
Jouko Aaltonen
2009 - 53 min - Couleur - Finlande

The documentary is studying the little known story of Nordic machinists working on the river boats on the Congo River. Professionals were hired on lucrative salaries from Finland and Sweden and they had to give an oath of fidelity to the King of Belgium. Sailors from the North met a new reality in the heart of the Black Africa where the colonial economy was based on slavery and compelled work. In private letters home we can follow how the men from equalitarian North gradually change adapting into the racist system. Con-crete personal tool and symbol of the regime was a whip made of the skin of hippopotamus. First terrified by the brutality of the white oppressors Nordic sailors learned soon to use whip themselves. Film is adding an interesting chapter into the history of colonialism in Africa. It is important to tell this unknown colonial story with a common content of the moral choices of an individual.