Rene Lemarchand and Les Larmes du Soleil.

Rene Lemarchand

Chris Blattman linked to a review written by Alex Engwete (who btw keeps a very interesting blog) about René Lemarchand’s new book “The Dynamics of Violence in Central Africa”. Lemarchand is a ‘biggy’ when it comes to research on Africa; being especially a specialist on the Great Lakes Region.

Les Larmes du Soleil

Some days ago I watched Les Larmes du Soleil. Sounds interesting, but it is nothing more than “Tears of the Sun” in English (while in France I bought some movies to keep my French up). It is a bad Hollywood movie about Africa in which Bruce Willis is a good old American-style hero. He is a US soldier sent to Nigeria to get an American citizen during a period in which the country falls into chaos after a bloody coup. Of course, Bruce Willis not only brings back this gorgeous-looking American lady, but in the meantime he also saves the lives of countless civilians including the son of the late president and the last in the royal bloodline of the Igbo people. However, despite all this there is one thing that sticks with me (paraphrasing):

Nigerian to Bruce Willis: “May God be with you”
Bruce Willis: “God already left Africa”