Turns out those "unknown forces" that seem to drop down out of nowhere into some unstable country and propagate destruction, decimation, violence, and extreme chaos aren't so mysterious after all. We may have had a sense that Central Africa's issues have a little something to do with natural resources and disempowered natives, but until Danish journalist Mads Brügger came along, there wasn't much way to track or understand, let alone laugh our asses off at such slippery corruption. Brügger, posing as a decadantly awkward egotistical dilettante looking to become a big shot, purchased a Liberian diplomatic appointment through the black market. With this paperwork, he played the crafty part of Mads Cortzen, businessman/crook with "other agendas" (wink, wink, diamond mining) in Central Africa. Secretly documenting the entire journey with video cameras, in his final product, an engrossing and appalling and darkly hilarious film called The Ambassador, we see, with a certain amount of horror, that he played his part to the hilt, never missing a beat when it came time to hand over "envelopes of happiness" in order to further exploit the land and the people of the CAR. From heads of security to government leaders, from regular people trying to get by to tribal members still operating according to tradition, everyone is seduced by a toxic combo of real cash and false hope.
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