The Redemption of General Butt Naked follows Joshua Milton Blahyi – aka General Butt Naked – a brutal African warlord who has renounced his violent past and reinvented himself as a Christian evangelist. Traveling the nation of Liberia as a preacher, Blahyi seeks out those he once victimized in search of an uncertain forgiveness.

Filmmakers Eric Strauss and Daniele Anastasion track Blahyi's often troubling path, finding both the genuine and disconcerting in his efforts, as the film examines the limits of faith and forgiveness in the absence of justice.

Eric Strauss

Eric Strauss has been creating documentary films for more than a decade, shooting, writing and producing for broadcasters such as National Geographic, The History Channel, The Discovery Channel, and A&E. For National Geographic Explorer, Eric directed, shot and produced Heroin Crisis, about the global trail of Afghan heroin, as well as Iraq’s Guns for Hire, a profile of the private security industry in Iraq. Eric is currently directing and producing for Hard Time, an Emmy-nominated prison series that premiered on the National Geographic Channel in March 2009. The Redemption of General Butt Naked is his first feature film.

Daniele Anastasion

Daniele Anastasion has worked regularly on documentaries for National Geographic, including the Emmy-nominated Inside the Body Trade, an investigation of the international black market in human organs. She produced KKK: Inside American Terror for The National Geographic Channel and has also produced and shot for Frontline/WORLD. She is currently producing for Hard Time, an Emmy-nominated prison series for National Geographic that provides a gripping year-long view into the world of incarceration. The Redemption of General Butt Naked is her first feature film.

• Film's Website
  http://www.generalbuttnakedmovie.com
• Film's Facebook page
  http://www.facebook.com/Redemption.General

Liberia In Context

Originally founded as a colony for freed American slaves, Liberia has been ravaged by civil war constantly since the overthrow of its government in 1980. In that year, Samuel Doe, an ethnic Krahn, assassinated Liberia’s President, William Tolbert, and installed himself in Tolbert’s stead. Elections were not held until 1985 when Doe emerged victorious, though the result was disputed. In the months and years that followed, Doe’s government faced several takeover attempts until full-scale war broke out in December 1989. At its height, the conflict featured no less than seven different warring factions.

General Butt Naked, as he was known then, fought for the ULIMO-J faction under Roosevelt Johnson, on the side of former President Doe, his fellow ethnic Krahn. The general and his army of child soldiers became infamous during a battle in April 1996, when they prevented rebel leader Charles Taylor’s forces from entering Monrovia. It was during this period that he committed most of the atrocities for which he has become known.

In 1996, the general claimed to have experienced a religious epiphany and put down his weapons, leaving Liberia. Charles Taylor, an opposing warlord and leader of the National Patriotic Front of Liberia, was elected president in 1997 and continued the tradition of an oppressive and bloody regime. Fighting soon resumed and continued until 2003, when Charles Taylor acceded to international pressure, stepped down from power, and Liberia’s civil war officially ended.

Since the general’s return from his self-imposed ten-year exile, conditions have improved in Liberia. Peaceful elections were finally held in 2005. Ellen Johnson Sirleaf was elected President and became the first female head of state in Africa. Though the government has stabilized, the people of Liberia are still dealing with the aftermath of war. To date, no Liberian has been tried or prosecuted for any crimes that occurred during the country’s long and bloody conflict. Former President Charles Taylor is currently being tried at The Hague for crimes that he committed in neighboring Sierra Leone. Former warlords and fighters continue to serve in Liberia’s government with impunity.

Liberia’s Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) was set up in 2006 to investigate the crimes and atrocities that took place during the war. Blahyi was the first warlord to voluntarily go before the Commission. The final TRC report, released in 2009, calls for several leading politicians to be banned from public office, including President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf and 2011 presidential candidate Senator Prince Johnson. The TRC’s recommendations remain highly controversial in Liberia.

Suggested Resources: Susman, Tina. "Liberia’s Fierce Butt Naked General Now Preaches Peace," August 4, 1997. Seattle Post-Intelligencer. Ellis, Stephen. The Mask of Anarchy: The Destruction of Liberia and the Religious Dimensions of an African Civil War, New York University Press, New York, 1996. Berkeley, Bill. The Graves are Not Yet Full: Race, Tribe and Power in the Heart of Africa, Basic Books, New York, 2001.

Interview with Eric and Daniele by Steffie Kinglake

t21: What inspired you to make The Redemption of the General Butt Naked?
Eric & Daniele: We met and developed our working relationship while producing a documentary for National Geographic Television about life inside a maximum security prison. The piece chronicled the lives of two gang members who were attempting to leave their criminal pasts behind. During this time, we both recognized a mutual fascination with stories that deal with the perpetrators of crimes – what leads people to make flawed choices and how they live with their mistakes. We wanted to make a film that challenged audiences to examine their own ideas about the nature of evil, justice, forgiveness and reconciliation. We were drawn to Joshua Blahyi’s story because his claim of transformation tests those questions in a big way.

t21: What do you want viewers to take away from the film?
Eric & Daniele: Our opinions of Blahyi were constantly shifting, and sometimes we didn’t even agree with each other’s assessment. There was so much complexity in what we witnessed that it became difficult to distill it down to a simple message. We wanted audiences to confront this complexity as well. We really struggled to set a tone in the film that neither affirmed nor denied Blahyi’s transformation, or his attempts at reconciliation. We wanted to present all of the contradictions and complexity that we experienced and allow viewers to arrive at their own conclusions. Ultimately, we both wanted to tell an intimate story about a perpetrator of crimes. It’s very easy to distance ourselves from figures who are responsible for horrible crimes. We wanted to try to collapse that distance, as difficult and uncomfortable as that may be.

t21: How did you first connect with Joshua Milton Blahyi?
Daniele: Back in 2005, Eric tracked Joshua down and went to Ghana to meet him at a Liberian refugee camp, where he was living at the time with his family. He wanted to find out if the rumor of this warlord-turned-preacher was true. Eric explained that we were interested in making a documentary about him. Joshua had appeared in some news articles and on various television news programs, and he was not at all media averse. However, we had no idea at the time that it would be such an intensive process, or that it would ultimately take five years to complete. After returning from that trip, Eric and I decided to partner together and returned to Africa for five more shoots over the next five years.

t21: What can be learned from his experience?
Eric: Joshua Milton Blahyi’s journey is so unique, so deeply personal, and so difficult to accept, that I think it’s impossible to say what exactly we can learn from his experience. After five long years documenting his life story, his crimes, and his struggle to redeem himself, Daniele and I still wrestle with our own feelings about this man. However, we both believe much can be learned from the experiences of Blahyi’s victims. Millions of Liberians were victimized by fighters like Blahyi during the country’s fourteen-year civil war. In a nation without justice, how these ordinary Liberians have chosen to forgive, heal, and move on from their collective past, is something we can all learn from.

t21: What was the most difficult part about making a film about Liberia's civil war?
Eric & Daniele: Despite the fact that General Butt Naked rose to prominence - and committed his crimes - during the Liberian civil war, our goal was never to make a film about Liberia’s civil war specifically. We wanted to tell an intimate story about the crimes of a perpetrator, one in which the backdrop was civil war. By examining the journey of a war criminal like Blahyi, we hoped to craft a story that touched on universal themes and issues, such as justice, forgiveness, and reconciliation. What was extremely challenging was attempting to encapsulate the fourteen-year Liberian civil war in a way that was both accurate and meaningful to an audience. The Liberian conflict is extremely complex. We hoped to give viewers just enough context and understanding of the war so that they’re better equipped to grapple with Blahyi’s story, and what it means for a post-conflict nation like Liberia.

t21: How do you define meaningful reconciliation?

Eric & Daniele: Meaningful reconciliation often defies definition. In making this film, we found that people define reconciliation in different ways and at different personal thresholds. For example, when Dekhanso reconciled with Joshua in the film, it was very difficult to comprehend the many layers of emotions that occurred for him. Dekhanso has since confirmed that he felt a very meaningful release and a weight lifted off of his heart after meeting Joshua. However, one might look at that moment in the film and feel a mixture of conflicting feelings – is Joshua truly repentant? He appears to hold back and not display much emotion. Are his motives selfish? Is he in it for himself more than his victims? To some extent, whatever we make of Joshua, it may be irrelevant for victims who choose to meet with perpetrators like him. Often they have a personal motive to bestow forgiveness and experience a type of internal catharsis or transformation – regardless of whether the perpetrator deserves it. Even if Joshua’s efforts toward reconciliation are insufficient, Dekhanso clearly has chosen to forgive. If we were in Dekhanso’s shoes, we probably would have reacted very differently.

t21: Your source of inspiration?
Eric & Daniele: We watch tons of documentaries and have drawn inspiration from films of varied subject matter and style. Intimate character portraits like Bennett Miller’s The Cruise, Errol Morris’ Mr. Death, and Werner Herzog’s Grizzly Man, were all powerful sources of inspiration, as was Ari Folman’s Waltz With Bashir, which helped to inform our thinking on the aftermath of war and how those involved with violence cope on a psychological level.

t21: Your favorite thing about Liberia?
Eric & Daniele: Liberians are incredibly resilient and their ability to move forward in the face of so much adversity was a constant source of inspiration to us. There’s also a strong connection between Liberia and the United States. Most Americans wouldn’t be able to find Liberia on a map, but the country was founded by freed American slaves. As a result, many Liberians feel a deep connection to the United States and follow U.S. politics and culture very closely. We were shooting in Liberia during the U.S. presidential election in 2008, and many Liberians were more informed than we were about what was going on back in the U.S. We always enjoyed that sense of connection.

What are the limits of forgiveness? For five years we wrestled with this question as we documented the life of a former African warlord responsible for the deaths of thousands. After fourteen years of civil war, this is also perhaps the most important and troubling question facing the people of Liberia. While justice remains absent for the thousands who committed atrocities during Liberia’s civil war, victims and perpetrators continue to live side by side in a fragile state of peace. By following an individual whose story raises uncomfortable questions about evil, justice, faith and forgiveness, we hoped to show the complexity of the situation that continues to confront Liberians. How does a nation move forward? What is the necessary balance between forgiveness and justice? As Liberians struggle to rebuild a nation, this is the question they – and we – must answer. -Eric Strauss and Daniele Anastasion

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