The Last Battle, filmed on two continents over four years, screens on Wednesday 4
December at 20h00 GMT on Witness, Al Jazeera’s flagship documentary strand.
In the film, a small group of elderly Kenyans is portrayed in their successful fight to
gain acknowledgement of the abuses suffered under the British colonial authorities at
the height of Mau Mau emergency in the 1950s.
The compelling documentary contains intimate and disturbing interviews,
observational footage, photographs and archive, and follows the group’s legal case in
London and exposes a history that was deliberately hidden, allowing the central
protagonists, for the first time, to tell the world their stories and what happened to
them.
For example, Naomi Nziula tells how she miscarried after being sexually assaulted with
a glass bottle after she was arrested on suspicion of being involved with the
movement; and Paulo Nzili and Ndiku Mutua speak about how they were castrated
with pliers when they were arrested for being part of the Mau Mau.
In June 2013, British foreign secretary William Hague announced that 5,228 Kenyan
victims would receive payments amounting to £19.9m (approximately R340m)
following an out-of-court settlement.
Jemma Gander, filmmaker, says: “As a British filmmaker I first learnt of the
independence struggle in Kenya after reading an article in an African magazine. I was
both shocked yet eager to find out more about these freedom fighters who were
tortured by agents acting for the colonial authorities in the 1950s.
“Britain is often seen as the paternalistic colonial power in comparison to other
European powers and I was keen to reveal the truth about the British and their often
brutal suppression of a people who were fighting for self-rule,’ she concludes.
View the full documentary on YouTube at http://www.youtube.com/watch?
v=xEwOICbKXcw.
Visit http://www-
ak.aljazeera.net/programmes/witness/2013/05/201352110394421881.html for more
information.
