Mo & Me
Journalist Mohamed Amin was not only born and raised in Africa, he was the first and most succesfull photo & video journalist bringing the stories from the continent across to the world. This directly and indirectly influenced the life of millions of people and his own life has now been documented in this movie by Roger Mills.
Last night I had the opportunity to visit a screening of “Mo & Me”, a documentary on the life of Mohammed Amin. As I learned through watching the movie, he was (and still is) the most influential photo & video journalist the African continent and arguably the world has ever brought forth.
Mohammed’s most famous achievement was forcing the world’s attention in 1984 to the horrible famine of Ethiopia. His footage displaying plains full of people starving to dead for as far as the eye could see led to the now infamous Live Aid event and the recording of “We Are the World”, a worldwide hit raising money for the victims of the hunger in the Eastern African country.
Mo was known for always being one step ahead of the competition and first to cover the most groundbreaking stories. Whether it was the war in Zanzibar, the death of Tom Mboya or the practices of Ugandan dictator Idi Amin, he was without fail the first one to get the story out, shooting both stills and film and the same time. His mix of careful planning, good connections and extreme dedication is what brought him fame the world over. His network reached far and high, both in and outside of Africa. Well documented in his black books were contacts of ruthless dictators, secret service agents and many, many others.
His life came to an abrupt ending in 1996 when a plane he was on got hijacked. The aircraft ran out of fuel and had to make a crash-landing at sea. 157 Passengers died, including Mo. He left behind his company, Camerapix, the first and still biggest Media-production house in Africa. He left behind an archive of footage that basically tells the story of the African continent of the past 40 years or so. He left behind numerous documentaries and Reuters’ Africa Journal, a program focussed on more positive African stories, still produced by Camerapix and aired on television across the continent today.
So who is “me” you might be wondering by now? Me is Mo’s son, Salim, who basically acts as the narrator and takes us through the story of his dad’s life by visiting significant locations, such as the “famine-plains” of Ethiopia. Salim is now CEO of Camerapix and has followed in his father’s footsteps after his tragic death in 1996. To give Salim such an important role in this movie is both it’s strongest and weakest point at the same time.
The advantage of this approach is that it allows for a more personal touch in a documentary that would otherwise mainly be a selection of archive footage with a voice-over and some interviews. Through the stories we get from Salim, his wife and his mother, we get an idea of what it was like to live with Mohammed as a person. It shows that great achievements come at a great price: Mo was always working and his camera came first, followed by his family on second.
The disadvantage of the way it’s done is that it puts too much emphasis on the father - son relation. It’s nice to get an idea of the family behind Mo but I would have liked to see a bit more of the undoubtedly amazing footage that must be available at the Camerapix archives and a bit less of the father - son relation. On top of that Salim is by no means an actor and therefore some of the scenes at various locations feel a bit forced or staged.
Whether Mohammed would have liked the film we will never know, but I think it was well-worth watching. It has to be said that it’s hard to make a documentary that’s not interesting when filming a life such as Mo’s and it could have been done a bit better, using more of the archived footage that must be available at Camerapix. Having said that, anyone interested in Africa or journalism in general should definitely not miss out on this movie about a remarkable man who dedicated his life to always getting the scoop, no matter at what cost.
Originally published on Inside Africa (insideafrica.tv), 2006.