On the 19th January VBS.TV will release an hour-long documentary in eight segments over eight days, following VICE founder Shane Smith and Editor Andy Cappa on their visit to Monrovia, the capital city of Liberia. One of their three guides (each of whom participated in the 14 year long Liberian Civil War) is Joshua Blahyi or ‘General Butt Naked’, himself the subject of a documentary charting his life and change of ways.
Blahyi, who gained his name by forcing his soldiers to fight wearing nothing but shoes, admits to having killed over 20, 000 people and drinking the blood of children. Today all he seeks is forgiveness, as he travels from place to place preaching about his redemption and how Jesus came to him at just about the right time.
Who better then to lead Shane and Andy to the most treacherous spots in Monrovia? They’re talking jails, brothels and heroin dens here, in a country still trying to find its feet after a war that came to an end almost seven years ago. In the trailer alone we watch some kid speedballing his way into the evening.
The VICE Guide to Liberia – Trailer
A couple of months ago in VICE – The Film Issue Ian F. Svenonius wrote a feature called ‘The Documentary Crisis,’ basically about how documentaries have become so bland that they must be destined for some distant alien race to learn about ours. It was really good, made a lot of sense and it’s brilliant that VBS.TV can come up with examples of what a good documentary should be, particularly with this guerilla expedition into potentially hostile Liberia.
Roll on part one (I’ll post it as they do).
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