A Decolonial View

Elias Abrante

Spoiler alert! 

The Wild Geese is a 1978 British film starring Roger Moore, Richard Harris, and Richard Burton among others. Genre-wise, it is an action film and a war film. It was directed by Andrew V. McLaglen. I watched it on DVD. Moore was still portraying James Bond at the time, continuing this tenure until 1985, when his seventh and last Bond film, A View to a Kill premiered.   This film was released between The Spy Who Loved Me (1977) and Moonraker (1979). Coincidently, Moonraker was his most lucrative Bond film and The Spy Who Loved Me his second most lucrative one. Moreover, Moonraker remained the highest-grossing Bond film for many years, until Goldeneye starring Pierce Brosnan outperformed it in 1995. Besides being Moore’s personal favorite, The Spy Who Loved Me is also regarded as one of the best Bond films ever made.  

Plot Summary 

The story follows a mercenary, Colonel Allan Faulkner (Burton), who by his employer in London, Sir Edward Matheson, is given two tasks. Firstly, he needs to rescue Julius Limbani, the former President of the fictional country of Zembela, who is imprisoned, awaiting his execution, which the now ruling dictator General Ndofa personally will carry out. Secondly, he needs to topple said General and replace him with Limbani. 

The reason why Matheson convinces Faulkner to make this intervention is because he wants to protect his geopolitical interests, namely the copper mines. General Ndofa, however, is willing to sell these to be able to have Limbani executed. Faulkner agrees, and proceeds to recruit the officers. Each one of these will command a unit participating in the operation. The men who he hires are the following: Lieutenant Shawn Fynn (Moore), Captain Rafer Janders (Harris), Lieutenant Pieter Coetzee (Hardy Krüger), and Regimental Sergeant Major Sandy Young (Jack Watson). Collectively, these men then enlist 45 men, their soldiers, before heading to Swaziland (today’s Eswatini) to undergo training under Young’s supervision.  

After that, they are sent to Zembela. But after having stormed the prison, and broken Limbani out of it, they are double-crossed by Matheson at an airfield awaiting extraction. Having made a deal with General Ndofa, Matheson gets the copper concessions, and the General in return gets Limani.  

Having been betrayed, the mercenaries are forced to fight the General’s private army while fleeing for their lives.  

The Characters 

I struggled to sympathize with the five protagonists, mainly because they all felt very bland and generic. They are also portrayed as moralists and/or idealists, which also is a character trait that I find problematic, as it signalizes that these individuals believe that they are entitled to make decisions about the future of Zembela without having consulted its population. The character Pieter Coetzee, one of the unit leaders, is particularly problematic because of his beliefs and his associations. A former member of the South African Defense Forces, he on numerous occasions makes racist and pro-colonialist statements when interacting with President Limbani, whom he for some inexplicable reason is assigned to protect. The filmmakers had the opportunity of having Limbani in return presenting arguments which prove him wrong and ultimately destroy his ignorant argumentation, but they instead have him delivering some platitudes about forgiveness as a response. Had they taken the chance, they could effectively have condemned the practice of these through this character, and also criticized South Africa (at the time still an apartheid state). By not making antiracist and anticolonial statements, they de facto turn a blind eye to those exposed to such inhumane treatment, in this case black people, thereby othering them. 

Another way in which black people are othered is through the constellation of the mercenary army. It predominantly consists of white men, both with respect to the recruits and to the soldiers. The number of black people belonging to it is extremely low. I only counted one, two, maybe three people. None of them are officers, they are all soldiers. The only one of them who gets some screen time is Sergeant Jesse Blake, portrayed by John Kani, who is best known for portraying T’Chaka, the father of T’Challa (The Black Panther), in Captain America: Civil War (2016). But Blake himself does not get very much to do besides following orders, e.g. carrying and protecting Limbani. We do see him assume the command after one of the officers is killed towards the end, in spite of this he is not given more attention by his colleagues. They are more concerned with mourning for instance Captain Rafer Janders, who was white, and who was killed in action. 

In addition to the racism and the othering, the film also contains some homophobia which the medic of the group, Arthur Witty, played by Kenneth Griffith is exposed to by Young, the Regimental Sergeant Major. This happens during the preparations for the operation in Swaziland. It also says something about the structure of the mercenary army, which is not particularly inclusive, as black men and homosexuals are discriminated against, while white heterosexual men are not.  

The White Savior Trope and the Racism   

The White Savior trope is used frequently in the story. Firstly, Faulkner and his team are assigned to help Limbani escape from his prison. Secondly, it is when they are tasked with deposing General Ndofa, although that task is never completed. This brings us to the third example, that is when they have to carry and protect Limbani, who was injured during the prison raid, from the General’s troops. By having this character sustaining those injuries, he becomes dependent on these foreigners, perpetuating this trope. Another instance in which this particular trope is utilized is when the decimated group arrive at the home town of Limbani, where they have to offer the inhabitants some protection as well, since they are portrayed as ill-equipped and unable to fight back. 

The film’s portrayal of the General’s soldiers is very racist. They are dehumanized when shown grimacingly attacking Witty, who is dying, with machetes. Another example of this dehumanization is when the mercenaries are chased by them at the runway, the wounded Janders asks Faulkner to kill him, claiming they will torture him if he is captured.  The so-called protagonists, who are portrayed as ‘superior’ to them, kill hundreds and hundreds of these soldiers throughout the film. Another example of this racism is when the officers of said army are seen. They too are white, further perpetuating the belief that white people are seen as ‘superior’ to black ones. 

Speaking of racism, it is worth mentioning that the only country willing to let the ‘protagonists’ land on one of its airports is Rhodesia (today’s Zimbabwe). That country was just as South Africa was at the time notorious for its racism towards its black citizens. Similarly to Shout at the Devil (1976), which I also have reviewed, this movie was filmed in South Africa at the time of the apartheid. This was to me a problematic action, as the filmmakers by putting money in the South African apartheid system gave their support to the discriminatory system which that state was built on. 

The Pacing 

The pacing of the movie was very bad. I had to wait over an hour before they finally arrived in Zembela, as I first had to endure watching Faulker getting his instructions, assembling the members of his team, and training together with them.  

Once the story moves from London and Swaziland to Zembala, it on the other hand quickly becomes repetitive. The same things happen over and over again. The group go from point A to point B, and once they are there, they are attacked and decimated by General Ndofa’s army, forcing them to fall back. Once they have retreated to another location, i.e point C, they are ambushed once again, suffering heavy losses as a consequence, and have to pull back to point D. This is the story in a nutshell. 

Ergo, with the first hour being tedious, and the second one being repetitious, the film, at the end of the day, failed to grab and maintain my interest.  

Rating 

1 star for Fynn wearing a silly Sherlock Holmes outfit when being introduced.