User Reviews

'Cold Case Hammarskjöld' is unlike any documentary I've seen. It's occasional deadpan humour in the first half flies in plane-crashing contrast to the chills, sadness and anger that eventually imploded me.

Did South Africa, with assistance from MI5, the domestic intelligence branch of the British Government, attempt to infect Africans with HIV via fake vaccinations?

That question grows as investigator Göran Bjorkdahl and documentarian Mads Brugger seek to discover who assassinated United Nations Secretary General Hammarskjold in 1961.

THE ASSASSINATION

United Nations (UN) Secretary General Dag Hammarskjöld made a mistake. He believed that his actions had to match the noble goals the organisation had put on paper. Believing that every country should be able to control its own affairs, he did his best to assist African states that had been, or were about to become, emancipated from colonial powers.

The movie asserts that his moral efforts made him the enemy of corporations and countries such as Britain and the USA. He had to be killed.

The plane that carried him and 16 others crashed in Northern Rhodesia, now modern day Zambia, on 18 September 1961. I don't want to give away to too much of the story but the circumstances were extremely suspicious.

The motivation for the assassination isn't far-fetched in that the USA and Belgium were linked to the assassination of Congo Prime Minister Patrice Lumumba the year before. Prior to that, the OSS, the precursor to the CIA, tried to control the uranium in that area which was also the source for the atom bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

The war for the control of African economies remains to this day.

But was South Africa involved in Hammarskjöld's death? It appears so but that aspect becomes overshadowed by the other dark deeds of the shadowy organisation involved.

THE SINISTER SOUTH AFRICAN INSTITUTE FOR MARITIME RESEARCH

IT'S 1998 in South Africa. Just before the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) comes to an end, it produces a document that's the plan for the assassination of Hammarskjöld. The protagonist is the South African Institute for Maritime Research (SAIMR), a possible partnership between mercenaries and the intelligence services of South Africa, Britain and the USA.

It's leader, Keith Maxwell, who self-labelled himself as 'Commander', was allegedly at the crash site of the UN Secretary General's plane.

Flash forward 20-30 years and one of his projects has Maxwell pretending to be a doctor, opening clinics to service the black poor from the townships of South Africa. Circumstantial evidence points to his purpose being the infection of black people with HIV for the purpose of white supremacy. It's claimed that the main base of operations for this project was in Mozambique.

Science suggests that their attempts would've been unsuccessful but the fact they they tried, possibly with assistance from Western democracies, is sufficient to goosebump me inside.

The lack of ethics isn't so shocking as to be unbelievable. Around the same period, motivated by profit, drug companies and the British National Health Service treated hemophiliac patients with blood from the USA that they knew may be infected with HIV. Thousands of patients died as result.

Alexander Jones, a former soldier for SAIMR, is the biggest revelation. He left South Africa before the film's release. He has been reported to have been in contact with the United Nations. Impartial interrogation of Jones is essential.

YOUNG WOMEN ASSASSINATED?

An interesting sub-plot is the alleged murders of SAIMR research staff, as part of the cover-up. That included two beautiful, young ladies.

Debbie Campbell was recruited whilst still in High School. No one has found her. She's feared dead like Dagmar Feil.

Feil had intended becoming a whistleblower before she was stabbed to death in 1990. She knew she'd be killed, telling her brother, Karl Feil, a few weeks before. He claims that the police were unwilling to investigate. Understand how bizarre that was at the time - a pretty, white women murdered would normally have resulted in a frenzy of action and expectation.

'Commander' Maxwell appears to have been a textbook psychopath. The sole contrary fact is that, before he disappeared, he left notes about SAIMR with Dagmar's and Karl's mother. Did Maxwell feel guilty about Dagmar's murder or was he hoping that his legacy would be uncovered?

Karl claims that the TRC repeatedly refused to hear his mother, unwilling to investigate SAIMR. That reluctance continues, the ANC-led government of South Africa refusing to cooperate with new investigation by the United Nations. Britain has also been unhelpful.

Their reaction suggests conspiracy bigger than transitional periods such as Apartheid.

DISTURBING SOUTH AFRICAN PARTNERSHIPS

There are uncomfortable moments in South African history that appear to be companions to the documentary.

The Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) was a sham. It never investigated the corporations that profited out of the slavery of black people. It left foreign sanction busters alone. Instead, the ANC allowed those companies to relocate their criminal profits to London.

For example, the ANC were supposed to be the enemies of the racist National Party Government yet appear to have been its financial partners. The ANC allowed National Party leaders to remove R30-billion from the country via an operation called Project Spear. Essentially, South Africa's gold supply was stolen.

As late as 2012, during the reign of Jacob Zuma whom many incorrectly perceived as the defender against capitalism, state broadcaster, the SABC, stopped a documentary about Project Spear from being broadcast.

Ex-Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan and ex-South African Reserve Bank Manager Tito Mboweni have been accused of cover-up. And the Reserve Bank, one of the world's few that are privately owned, has refused independent audit.

The first significant action by Cyril Ramaphosa, when he became interim President in 2018, was to visit the Council on Foreign Relations (CFR). The CFR is an organisation for corporations that many consider to be the the biggest unchecked power in the world.

Ramaphosa then made Mboweni the Finance Minister and Gordhan the State Enterprises Minister. They're currently viewed as his two biggest allies.

COLD CASE HAMMARSKJOLD

The initial jumpiness and offbeatness of 'Cold Case Hammarskjöld' may dissuade some viewers but if they continue watching they're guaranteed to become as absorbed as me.

It's one downfall is that it allows the perception that it uncovered everything itself. Reality is that author Susan William's book, 'Who Killed Hammarskjöld?', along with Göran Bjorkdahl's evidence, instigated the new United Nations investigation.

Nevertheless, the documentary is a 2019 highlight, and will linger long and disturbingly in the minds of South Africans whose country should stop hiding its past lest its future become as tainted.

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11 August 2019 - United Nations' Update - Raised expectations of progress as Judge submits final report to UN Secretary-General

Judge Mohamed Chande Othman, the 'eminent person' charged to implement UN General Assembly Resolution 71/260 (23 December 2016) has now submitted the final report in his 'Investigation into the conditions and circumstances resulting in the tragic death of Dag Hammarskjöld and of the members of the party accompanying him'. UN Secretary-General António Guterres will present the judge's report to the UN General Assembly later this year, together with his recommendations for further action.

This final report follows his earlier report (October 2017) in which he observed "Far from approaching the possible limit of our understanding, the deeper we have gone into the searches, the more relevant information has been found." Amongst recommendations in that report, he urged more cooperation from nine key countries, later extended to a further five countries (News Item 3 September 2018). The responses from these countries have differed greatly in their support although it is understood the Judge is content with the majority of these, having led to the discovery of important and useful information. Responses from some countries have been disappointing (News Item 3 December 2018).

Sweden continues to serve as lead nation in carrying through the implementation of the General Assembly's Resolution 71/260. In securing the successful passage of three votes in the General Assembly, it has skilfully coordinated more than one hundred UN Member States, ensuring the continuation of the Judge's investigations. Even so, its own protocols continue to hinder some requests for access to official Hammarskjöld-related documents on grounds that they are classified under national security laws (New York Times 4 August 2019). This follows its protracted correspondence with the families of those others who died in the plane crash.

In the UK, the Westminster United Nations Association, utilising the Freedom of Information Act, has pursued its request that the British government release information relating to the UN Secretary-General's request to the UK Government to appoint a high ranking and independent official to examine state records on the matter (News Item 4 May). Having received an unsatisfactory response to its follow-up request, it has referred the matter to the office of the independent Information Commissioner. On 5 August, the Commissioner confirmed that the reference was eligible for further consideration and would be 'carried forward as soon as possible'.

QUESTION

Is fair investigation possible? Or will facts be devolved into conspiracy theory becoming a Hollywood movie one day?

At the beginning of Cold Case Hammarskjöld, Danish documentarian Mads Brugger concedes that his search for answers regarding the death of UN Secretary General Dag Hammarskjöld has ended up as a fascinating murder mystery or an idiotic conspiracy theory. Certainly Brugger has managed to suggest both in a film that is rarely boring but occasionally frustrating.

Brugger employs an unorthodox framing device to tell his story. In two separate cities in the Congo and South Africa, he dictates his story to different secretaries, who type on a manual typewriter. Whether his narration works or not is subject to debate.

Soon it becomes clear that Brugger wasn't the first to start a full-scale investigation into the death of Hammarskjöld, whose plane was shot down in September 1961 in Ndola, Northern Rhodesia (now Zambia) while he was on a peacekeeping mission, mediating between the parties in the Congolese civil war. Goran Bjorkdahl, a Swedish aid worker, has been investigating the facts of the case a bit longer than Brugger (2011 to be exact).

Bjorkdahl's father gave him a seemingly bullet-riddled piece of metal which purportedly was a piece from Hammarskjold's downed plane. Later an FBI lab report concludes that this was a false lead-that it wasn't from the plane at all. Meanwhile Brugger and Bjorkdahl get permission from the Ndola airport where parts of the plane were supposedly buried and employ a metal detector, locating the spot where they believe the remains of the plane lie.

Brugger and Bjorkdahl appear almost as comical figures as they attempt to dig up part of the plane by themselves with only two pick axes in hand-only to be denied eventually by the Zambian government, who apparently get wind of their research project later on.

At this point one wants to know a little bit more about Hammarskjold. We find out that the renegade province Katanga, led by Moise Tshombe, declared its independence from the Congo and Hammarskjold sent in UN troops to stop the secession. The UN intervention ended up badly for them and we're informed Hammarskjold was on his way to negotiate further with Tshombe. My question is why Hammarskjold thought he would have been welcomed by Tshombe at all; after all, it was the Secretary General who ordered the UN troop interference, in the first place.

In Brugger's view, Hammarkskjold was an idealist who opposed the colonialists in Africa, particularly the Union Minière, an Anglo-Belgian mining company, which had been in the Congo for years. Brugger (along with many others) believe that the colonialists had Hammarskjöld murdered as he championed African interests.

Perhaps the most fascinating and compelling piece of evidence which points to murder are the various native witnesses who heard gunfire and were aware of the presence of another plane (a small jet fighter) as Hammarskjöld's plane approached the Ndola airport. Brugger finds a retired American, a former NSA operative, who confirmed that they believe a Belgian pilot (a former RAF flyer in World War II) was responsible for firing at Hammarskjöld's plane and causing it to crash.

Equally fascinating is that there is a photograph of Hammarskjöld's body with the Ace of Spades card tucked into his collar, a supposed calling card from US and British intelligence.

The story gets more bizarre as Brugger shifts the scene to South Africa. Back in the early 90s, their Truth and Reconciliation Committee uncovered some photocopied documents detailing the existence of a shadowy white supremacist organization called the South African Institute for Maritime Research (SAIMR). Essentially they were a group of mercenaries led by an equally shadowy figure known as the Commodore (later identified as Keith Maxwell, who liked to dress in all white, as a 19th century naval officer).

Brugger goes off on a tangent in the second half of "Cold Case" as he interviews a former soldier in SAIMR who claims that a young woman, Dagmar Fell, a young biochemist, was murdered by SAIMR after she threatened to expose the group for injecting the AIDS virus into unsuspecting Black Africans (subtitles caution that there was no evidence that isolating the virus and injecting it into people was ever accomplished).

It takes quite a while before Brugger gets back to his main topic-the murder of Hammarskjöld-but he finally reveals that in Maxwell's (fictional) autobiography, there is an admission that SAIMR, acting on the behest of unknown parties, placed a bomb in Hammarskjöld's plane and it went off upon approach to the Ndola airport. So it appears that the plane may have been downed by both an air attack from another plane and a bomb.

Cold Case Hammarskjöld is a fascinating subject. Brugger's editing could have been tighter as we mentioned that he goes off on various tangents which distract from what he's ultimately trying to accomplish-identifying who killed Hammarskjöld. Still, the film is definitely worth seeing as an important history lesson and possible solution to a historical murder mystery.

In short: Some things are presented that are factual; as the wikileaks reveal that Dag Hammerskjöld's plane was shot down by a Belgien merchenary working for USA. The private interests that would "sanction" a move against a man who wanted to free Africas natural resources on behalf of the African nations are touched on, as is probable CIA involvement. Accounts by persons witnessing the attack who were also interviewed, but as always personal accounts are hearsay and even if they seem relative credible, without a proper investigation into them they're just slightly weighing to one side over the other.

In a little longer: BUT, and this is a big but, it seems like Mads Brügger has jumped onto the research of Göran Björkdahl and is somewhat working completely in the opposite direction. This makes watching the documentary quite weird at times; as when they try to locate planewreckage near an airport and they convince the local airportchief to let them dig, the material Mads seems to have made ready for them to reach the plane is two handheld showels and a metal detector, this is as they've previously been shown pictures of the plane being buried a few meters down... Same goes for some pictures that Björkdahl's gotten his hands on, that clearly show large bulletholes in the planewreckage - it's sped by and presented as inconclusive (focusing on another hole in the wreckage). As far as Mads go, looking up his arm tattoo (if you got the library/archieve to do so) should reveal what group he belongs to. In fairness he does seem to battle his conscience at times. On the other hand he makes a deluded imprint on the movie with his ambitions to make a cool twist early on as he puts forth the ins and outs of what has happened so far.

There is also the connection to a supposed white power structure (and widespread at that) working to upkeep apartheid (which seems logical enough) that had elements (persons) in it that supposedly spread AIDS by infecting vaccines with it. I have no disillusions about sociopathic/psychopathic people's willingness to do bad things for their own profit or someone else's downfall, this is still something Mads should have made ANOTHER documentary about - it's not properly explored nor does it contribute more than to illuminate the behaviour of some of those upholding apartheid behind the scenes. It does however serve to put people off, "bad by association" comes to mind - which is a classical spin doctor/propaganda tool and serves to take away credibility from what is presented surrounding the African protector and representative of UN - Dag Hammarskjöld's - demise.

USA should put forth a public apology for their actions here, but doing so would mean that other actions currently underway would also be wrong. Actions such as the middle eastern wars to keep the military spending up, the oil in Iraq, the lithium and drug production (in afghanistan) under control and the attempt to overtake the Syrian oil reserves (bombed by Russia to deter USA from staying in Syria). So that is less than likely to happen. It would also mean that USA would loose the little face they have left in UN, the step between a nation that only attacks and kills hundreds of thousands of people for freedom and one that kills them for wealth to upkeep the USA's current way of business (fascism) is shorter than many are fooled to believe.

The stars are there for the facts and information that are actually presented well enough.

I caught this on BBC4 under their STORYVILLE bracket, retitled MURDER IN THE BUSH. It's a two-hour Danish documentary that involves a couple of investigators looking into a mysterious plane crash that killed a leading member of the UN on the border of the Congo back in 1961. Soon enough they discover a wide-ranging conspiracy involving a mysterious organisation operating throughout southern Africa. This is riveting stuff indeed, well made and well told throughout, with exotic locations and a large cast of characters, many of whom are mysterious and/or sinister. The meat of the story is larger-than-life and ultimately shocking, and you wonder how much of it you can really believe; in any case, it makes for a thoroughly engrossing viewing experience.

Dag Hammarskjöld was a U. N. Secretary General who died in a plane crash in Africa, many believing that sinister forces were involved. In this documentary, a pair of investigators set to uncover his story, and they find some evidence for mercenary involvement, possibly backed by the South African and U. S. governments. But the first half of the story has a familiar feel, and the investigators make a lot of themselves in their film, even though they are not really so interesting as individuals. Indeed, the director/narrator effectively admits as such, before extending his story to cover where he ended up: with evidence of even more horrific, and much more recent crimes, including the deliberate spread of the H. I. V. Virus with the aim of eliminating black Africans. This wider tale may simply be the product of fantasists; but it smacks of enough truth to be gravely concerning, and the story of its uncovering has a few twists of its own. Indeed, behind the pretense, there really is an interesting film in here about the practice of journalism, the long hours it entails, and the rare moment of insight when the evidence trail finally comes together.

The first half of the movie is about the death of Hammarskold. That part is interesting, but the documentary provides no new information, and ignores much info taken from the many investigations into the incident.

When the documentary makers were denied permission to dig, they had to salvage the documentary in some way. I think that's where the second part comes in. The problem with the second part is that the sources just aren't believable. Anyone familiar with intelligence realizes that there are so many inaccuracies in what they say that they can't be taken seriously. Yet this documentary builds an entire wild scenario about them and the South African Marine Research Institute. Are they paid actors? Hilarious. The far fetched schemes conjured up in this documentary are even more hilarious.

This mockumentary may still be worth a watch, as long as you don't take it too seriously. It's almost in the 'it's so bad it's good' category.