Afrika is a rarely discussed giallo directed and written by Alberto Cavallone (Soffio Erotico) and one of the few where homosexuality is explored outside of a comedy character.
Professor Philippe Stone (Ivano Staccioli) is in the middle of being in love with his wife (Jane Avril) and his attraction to young men like his secretary Frank (Andrea Traglia), who he has made a part of his family. Frank even becomes a woman, but Stone ends up cutting him out of his life, which causes the now her to kill herself with the help of his sister (Kara Donati). You feel for Frank because of he/she lived a life filled with horrible moments, like being assaulted by two men and a woman when he was just a teenager. He's just looking for love from the older European, but much like how the white man colonized Africa but really stripped it for its resources, that's what is happening to him/her.
At the end, the police simply say, "Let's close this squalid story as the suicide of an abandoned woman. We don't say a word about everything else."
Cavallone said, "It wasn't a film that the public could like... and in fact it didn't like it." He also said in another interview, "I wanted to talk about Africa and homosexuality. I was interested in exploring the problem, trying to make people understand this type of relationship, which was seen at the time as a taboo relationship. And above all I was interested in making an African story in which Africa could be a backdrop to bring the characters closer together. The whites in an Africa that had now decolonized were the soldiers of General Custer."
Finally, a word on how the movie was horrific to make: "Working in Ethiopia was a nightmare, my operator and I were put in a security cell several times. "
To make Italian male audiences not feel so weird about this confrontation with male love, there are numerous scenes of Avril nude, including her dancing with an African tribe. To remind us all this is an Italian movie, there is a scene of soldiers killing two women and real footage of cattle being slaughtered.
Professor Philippe Stone (Ivano Staccioli) is in the middle of being in love with his wife (Jane Avril) and his attraction to young men like his secretary Frank (Andrea Traglia), who he has made a part of his family. Frank even becomes a woman, but Stone ends up cutting him out of his life, which causes the now her to kill herself with the help of his sister (Kara Donati). You feel for Frank because of he/she lived a life filled with horrible moments, like being assaulted by two men and a woman when he was just a teenager. He's just looking for love from the older European, but much like how the white man colonized Africa but really stripped it for its resources, that's what is happening to him/her.
At the end, the police simply say, "Let's close this squalid story as the suicide of an abandoned woman. We don't say a word about everything else."
Cavallone said, "It wasn't a film that the public could like... and in fact it didn't like it." He also said in another interview, "I wanted to talk about Africa and homosexuality. I was interested in exploring the problem, trying to make people understand this type of relationship, which was seen at the time as a taboo relationship. And above all I was interested in making an African story in which Africa could be a backdrop to bring the characters closer together. The whites in an Africa that had now decolonized were the soldiers of General Custer."
Finally, a word on how the movie was horrific to make: "Working in Ethiopia was a nightmare, my operator and I were put in a security cell several times. "
To make Italian male audiences not feel so weird about this confrontation with male love, there are numerous scenes of Avril nude, including her dancing with an African tribe. To remind us all this is an Italian movie, there is a scene of soldiers killing two women and real footage of cattle being slaughtered.