Safari (2017) - Ulrich Seidl

A disturbing, confrontational documentary profiling big-game hunting in Africa, Ulrich Seidl's Safari is a harrowing document of the destructive nature of humanity, contending that our paramount status in nature is the problem.   The mise-en-scene in Seidl's films always stands out and Safari is no exception, featuring a stringent, symmetrical aesthetic that is quietly menacing as the film profiles various wealthy German tourists, each of which justify their actions in various ways, while their various trophies, the victims of their actions, loom over them in harrowing detail.  While each of these German tourists are not treated in some form of monolithic way, Safari as a film is ripe with imperialistic undertones.  While the film acknowledges the potential benefits these individuals bring to the African people through big-game hunting,  the way Seidl juxtaposes the foreigner's homes and way of life with that of the local people in the film's final minutes certainly suggests he isn't completely accepting this justification, as the economic argument ignores the destructive effects which humanity as a whole has on nature.   A film that is not for the faint of heart, Ulrich Seidl's Safari is another engrossing yet confrontational documentary, challenging the viewer to question exactly what humanities place in this fragile world. ​