Now playing at the Quad Cinema in New York, Michael Skolnik’s
documentary “Without the King” is a study of Swaziland, the poorest
country on the African continent and the last absolute monarchy on
earth. It has a lot in common with another monarchy in
Africa--Ethiopia--whose ruler also lived in opulence while his subjects
suffered in abject misery.
Swaziland is ruled by King Mswati III, who has fourteen wives each with
their own palace, owns a fleet of Mercedes Benzes, wears designer
clothing and sends his 22 children abroad for schooling, including his
eldest daughter Princess Sikhayiso, aka Pashu. Along with her father,
Pashu dominates Skolnik’s penetrating examination of the wages of greed.
She is utterly oblivious to the plight of her fellow Swazis, who have
the lowest life expectancy in the world (31 years) and suffer from the
highest incidence of AIDS (42.6%). Sounding like the typical airhead
that show up on reality shows on the cable networks in the U.S., Pashu
portrays being King as hard work: “You have to listen to people all the
time, any time of day or night.”
full: http://louisproyect.wordpress.com/2008/04/25/without-the-king/
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