President

Long time readers of The Magical Buffet know that I have been an ineffective advocate for Zimbabwe since 2008. At the time I was able to watch BBC World News on BBC America and that happened to be during one of many tumultuous times in the country. I wrote letters, A LOT of letters, hoping to hear back from any of my elected officials. I won’t bore you with all of that. I mention it at all to say, I care about Zimbabwe and have for quite a long time now considering that I’m a middle-aged white woman born and raised in middle America and has never met someone from Zimbabwe or traveled there.

I wish I could say it’s because I’m so well known for my advocacy for the country that PBS reached out to me about the upcoming broadcast debut of the documentary “President” for the POV series. I suspect that I just got lucky. Regardless, I was given the opportunity to watch the 2021 film “President”, which follows the turbulent 2018 presidential election in Zimbabwe.

Zimbabwe is at a crossroads. After eight years of oppression under the Zimbabwe African National Union-Patriotic Front (ZANU-PF) regime, president Robert Mugabe is forcibly ousted from power in the military coup of November 2017. When Mugabe was removed from power, Zimbabwean military leaders promised they would not seize control for themselves, but rather ensure democracy in a national general election. In the context of an economic crisis, food shortages and political violence, the stakes could not be higher.

Nelson Chamisa, the new, young and charismatic leader of Zimbabwe’s opposition party, Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) Alliance is challenging the old guard ZANU-PF represented by the acting president, Emmerson Mnangagwa, who is determined to remain in power. Chamisa, is a 40-year-old lawyer who fought against President Mugabe’s regime while he was a student activist. The more popular candidate, Chamisa draws enormous crowds while Mnangagwa is unable to fill a stadium after bussing in alleged supporters. When the election results come in, it is no surprise when Mnangagwa insists that he won, despite that the numbers never add up in his favor. When asked how sixteen counties could’ve possibly reported identical election results, the ZANU-PF’s lawyer argues that only a behavioral scientist could account for how such an amazing coincidence could occur.

Can a free, fair and transparent election that reflects the will of the people proceed?

“President” won an award at Sundance and is an Oscar shortlisted documentary, and I can see why. The film is riveting and tense. I believe a critic somewhere referred to it as a docu-thriller, and they’re not wrong, Hollywood WISHES they could write a thriller as intense as this real-life drama. The director (Camilla Nielsson) and her crew had a real knack for capturing emotion in real time, whether it was a slow blooming look of horror as a campaign leader for Chamisa watches the staff in their office rounded up by police, the eyes of the Chairperson for the Zimbabwe Election Commission glass over with tears just about to drop at a trial, or the look of shame on a judge at the presidential inauguration, the camera is there.

If you’re interested in politics, Zimbabwean or otherwise, care about democracy, or honestly, just love a good legal thriller, I cannot recommend “President” enough.

President makes its national broadcast premiere on POV on Monday, August 8, 2022 (check local listings) and is available to stream free until September 8, 2022 at pbs.org, and the PBS Video app.

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