It is no dark web, Da Vinci code-requiring secret – Western institutions like the British Museum were founded and built on theft. What makes Britain such a “cultured” and desirable place to live and visit is the stolen culture of countries from Egypt, Greece, and Ethiopia. Many of us can picture the physical culture currently housed in the British Museum, always under heavy scrutiny—the monuments, the gold, the human remains—but not always do we consider the oral culture, the spiritual culture—the spirit in culture—that is also stolen by Western imperial powers. Even fewer of us are willing to “brave” our discomfort by considering the human spirits that were stolen by these powers. Films like Denis Dobrovoda’s Savage remind us of the spirit crushing that these powers accomplished.

Savage gives us a little over three torturous weeks in the life of Mokonzi (Florence Nzenwefi), a man from Congo—then under imperial rule by Belgium—who is carted around and propped up as part of a horrific “human zoo” exhibit in London of 1910. Human zoos existed for over 150 years between the 19th and 20th centuries—all the way up until 1958—and they represented white colonial powers at their most malicious, depraved, and downright evil as countries like Britain, France, America, and Belgian went about snatching people from areas under their grip and putting them on display at museums, carnivals, and even at actual zoos. Savage is not suggesting or hinting at any of this; Savage puts this very ghastly reality in front of us as Mokonzi is prodded at like a science experiment, fed raw meat, and looked upon with grim disdain by people who have been taught that their king is the “ruler of the world.”

Dobrovoda’s film is a difficult watch, but it is a vital part of the process of holding Western countries accountable for their atrocities and confronting issues that persist today in places like museums. Both the Freud Museum and the Horniman Museum in the UK were used during filming, and these spaces still indoctrinate in visitors their homeland’s power and prestige with gaudy and ostentatious displays. Dobrovoda is a white, London-based director, but he has done extensive research on this seldom investigated legacy of blatant racism, and he has worked closely with Nzenwefi to assure the subject matter is handled sensitively and portrayed accurately.

As Nzenwefi reveals to Directors Notes, even recreating scenarios like this result in unique traumas, appearing in such manners instilling a person of colour like himself with much dread and unease. This was undoubtedly channeled in a very commendable performance by Nzenwefi, who appears primarily in close-up and medium close-up shots, the camera lingering on his every wince and tremor. Beneath the complacent exterior that the white powers of his world demand, a fire and despair the likes of which they will never know rages, and Nzenwefi captures this brilliantly as he keeps his intensity pent up in his body language and his every searing glance.

Dobrovoda works in his research on human zoos with his script, and even incorporates documented moments in the dark history to make Savage as (unfortunately) accurate as possible. Mokonzi being forced to sing “Rule, Britannia!” for example, is based the story of a young boy from Africa who was brought over to England to sing for people in clubs and pubs as a “party trick.” Moments like these can seem forthright and theatrical to the point of being satire, but the commitment in Savage sobers one up to the reality being rendered almost immediately. Dobrovoda worked with his DP Andy Alderslade to keep his film from looking from like just another polished BBC or Netflix period drama, and this helps ground the subject matter. Savage never quite reaches the level of “gritty” that the repugnant and detestable actions depicted would seem to call for, but the 4:3 aspect ratio and the modern camera’s smoothing qualities work in harmony to keep the story feeling both of the past and still prescient. 

Though a fictionalized account of one African man’s dehumanizing experience within Western imperialism’s twisted systems of control, Savage is a sobering reminder of the systems still in place today. Alongside the taxidermy’d and living animals we still pay to observe and marvel over, people of colour were once cruelly considered exhibitions as well. In the way many POC are still exploited and robbed of their culture today, these exhibitions are allowed to continue. Savage puts these instances of exploitation back under examination.

Savage has been touring around festivals such as San Diego International Film Festival, Athens International Film Festival, and North Dakota Human Rights Film Festival, where it won best screenplay. It is available to stream for free on Directors Notes.