On a film starring the late Sidney Poitier that later in his life he came to see in a different light
This article is one of several I wrote in the wake of the death of the great actor Sidney Poitier. This one concerns one of two films he was in that portrayed historical events in a way that the actor came to feel differently about later in life.
Still writing about the legacy of the late Sidney Poitier. I thought about this for a long time before writing about this film. “Something of Value”. Sidney Poitier rarely talked about the films that he made that “troubled” him. There were two. This one made in 1957 and another that I will talk about later. I never got a chance to speak personally with Poitier. I was once blessed to be in the same room with him but I couldn’t even get close. What’s wrong with this film ?. Well it’s good…well written and the acting is superb. The great William Marshall …one of my favorite actors is riveting as the “intellectual” of the “mau mau” resistance movement. Wonderful to watch. and Poitier playing a young recruit gives an Oscar level performance. The problem is in the historically “bullshit” portrayal of the so-called Mau Mau rebellion, in truth there was no such thing as the “Mau Mau”. The “Kenya Land and Freedom Army (KLFA)” had it’s roots in the “Kenya African Study Union”, in the 1940s . who attempted a negotiated solution to end colonialism in Kenya. After many failures the KASU changed its name to the “Kenya African Union” (KAU) in 1946. And slowly became more militant. What we know as the Mau Mau rebellion began in 1952…. Amiri Baraka and I were for a long time bitter enemies. Mostly because for a time Baraka was caught up in the “cointelpro” inspired rivalry of “Cultural Nationalist” vs Marxist revolutionaries .In 1970 at the “Congress of African Peoples” in Atlanta Ga.We both talked about how we saw through this manipulation of Black activists and how the FBI inspired conflict had become deadly. Baraka had begun to distance himself from Ron Karenga and this conflict. We ran a workshop together and actually became friends. One night we sat up with a few bottles of wine and spoke of how this film “rewrote” the history of the rebellion in Kenya. The “Kenya Land and Freedom Army (KLFA)” did not call themselves Mau Mau. The term was for the most part an attempt by the British to paint a picture of “blood thirty” savages rather than a legitimate rebellion with an anti-colonialist agenda. Branding the KLFA as a group of savages that could not be reasoned with the British used a time honored tactic of “divide and rule” There were factions of tribal groups who were encouraged by the British to actually fight against the KLFA. The portrayal of the resistance as seen in this film is totally false. To Baraka and myself the film itself was an attempt to make the British colonialists seem “noble” and the anti-colonialists as a “murdering horde”,the real truth was the reverse. Baraka a great thinker and I maintained a friendly and respectful relationship for the rest of his life. In this clip you see a scene where “would be” resistance fighters were asked to swear to “kill a white man” I have talked to several veterans of the KLFA over the years and none of the people I have ever talked to knew of an “oath” that asked that..most say it’s a myth made up by people who were not really there….I don’t know, but I think that as Poitier got more involved with the civil rights movement in the early 1960s it may be one of the reasons he began to see this 1957 film in a new light. “Something of Value” 1957 directed by Richard Brooks and starring Rock Hudson, Dana Wynter, and Sidney Poitier and William Marshall. A great film, and a pack of lies. But Sidney Portier’s performance is superb. use the link below to see the scene from the film
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