The Redemption of General Butt Naked | Review

Working with a title that certainly sounds as if it were a comedy, The Redemption of General Butt Naked could not be more serious. Docu-helmers Daniele Anastasion and Eric Strauss make a film about respect while showing great respect for their subjects. The real-time documentary follows Joshua Milton Blahyi, a preacher with a dark past as a cruel warlord, trying to make amends. The action that follows could not be scripted, as they capture both heartwarming and heartbreaking moments in this man’s life and the life of his country Liberia. If not for those moments, what will keep the audience’s attention is the dangerous ambiguity of his character as we are never quite sure of his sincerity, even if we really want to be.

During the Liberian Civil War Blahyi was known as General Butt Naked, and lead a group of mercenaries who were famous for not only their grisly and merciless tactics, but going into battle naked. The history of this war is told to us through interviews with Liberian witnesses from all sides of the war. We meet soldiers who fought under Blahyi, some who fought against him, and many who knew him by reputation. Not everyone recognizes his face, but many times in the film a mob of Liberians are notified they are in the presence of Butt Naked and everyone knows who he is.

A great deal of the focus of this film is the investigation into Blahyi’s apparent addiction to the notoriety. There are a few notable scenes where Blahyi visits those he has wronged—the wife of a man he unjustly murdered, the sister and son of his recently deceased right hand man in the wars. The scenes are challenging because the audience can never be sure what effect the camera has on these people. Would these “scenes” play out the same if the white camera-persons were not present?

Regardless, what we’re left with is a a series of awkward encounters where they do accept Blahyi’s apologies, however, it all seems forced and insincere. It is not the filmmaking that is forced and insincere, but literally the interactions. One cannot help but feel like they are still under Blahyi’s spell. When General Butt Naked wants you to accept his apology, you better accept it, for fear of how he’ll react otherwise.

We only get references to his infamous temper and the brutal way he would exercise it. He’s a trained media spokesperson when the camera is on though, so the audience can never be sure who the real Blahyi is. The prize of a documentary like this is always getting the subject to let his or her guard down, and it’s unlikely we get that in The Redemption of General Butt Naked. That does not necessarily hurt the film though, as this is not meant to be a full portrait of the man, but rather a beginning, middle and end narrative of his post-war life in his homeland that he has disgraced.

There is certainly much more here that the filmmakers could have sought out, but they made the film they chose to make and they did a formidable job with a docu which is neither a political film nor an investigation into the history of the Liberian Civil War. This is a real time documentary about a man returning to the scene of his crimes and trying to start fresh—whether his victims want him or not. Much of the doc’s success can be credited to the filmmakers for deciding what film they were making and sticking to it, for every minute of Butt Naked is purposeful, so we are left with the very rare well-paced documentary film.

Reviewed at the 2011 Sundance Film Festival. U.S. Dramatic Competition Section.

84 Mins. January, 23rd, 2011

Rating 3.5 stars