Truth is stranger than fiction in Bushman, a rare sort of film portrait; part imagined, part documentary – poetic in its approach to real events.
Directed by David Schickele and originally released in 1971, Bushman follows Gabriel (Paul Eyam Nzie Okpokam), a young Nigerian, living life in San Francisco. Lovestruck and culturally stranded, he faces the harsh realities of America through the late 60s/early 70s.
The film portrays the experience of its lead actor as the "other" during a tumultuous time of cultural revolution, then turns completely on astonishing real-life events, as he is falsely accused of terrorism during a strike protest, while the film is in production.
Thrown in prison for a year, and then deported as an undesirable, we witness how he is seen through the prism of American racism and exoticism, in this entirely unique film.
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