I had never heard of Mads Brügger prior to walking blindly into Red Chapel last year and I have to say I am now officially a fan. While The Ambassador never quite reaches the heights Red Chapel did, it is still a very fun, compelling watch.

Brügger goes undercover here as an African ambassador, attempting to smuggle diamonds out of the Central African Republic (CAR). The most interesting and damning stuff comes from his hidden camera recordings of those who are in the business of providing ambassadorships, as well as the other ambassadors who are doing business in the area. The corruption and how easy it is to get everything set up is quite insane, though of course there is…

I don't normally like this type of documentary that seems like a stunt, but I did like The Ambassador, very much.

The Ambassador is a documentary by Danish filmmaker Mads Brügger, in which he buys diplomatic credentials to become Liberia’s ambassador to the Central African Republic, and goes about setting up a match factory as a front for his efforts to buy blood diamonds. Much of the film is footage from hidden cameras, showing conversations held with various high-level government officials, and the owner of a diamond mine.

I think a key to whether or not you like this film is how fully you buy into the reality of his situation, and whether you think he really would have been…

Review from my VOD column "This Week on Demand".

“The most provocative filmmaker in the world” is the quote exalted on all promotional material for Mads Brügger’s The Ambassador, the journalist’s undercover voyage into the depths of African political corruption and widespread diplomatic abuse of human rights, and it’s in a sense this very provocativeness which holds the film back from ever reaching its full potential. A story ripe with important human drama and genuine horror is chiefly exploited by Brügger for self-serving comedy, he always the centre of attention rather than the pertinent issues he ostensibly aims to cover. It’s at least fortunate that the comedy is very funny, and despite its flaws as a work of investigative journalism…

Here's a fascinating, exuberant film that should never, ever be taught in a documentary filmmaking class. The filmmaker, Mads Brugger, breaks just about every rule of journalistic ethics that has ever been conceived. Also, there's a very good chance that any other filmmaker who tried to recreate Brugger's film would, as one character helpfully put it, "wind up dead in a ditch in Africa."

The story is almost too good to be true: a Danish journalist decides to reinvent himself as a diplomat in the war-torn and lawless Central African Republic. The process is alarmingly easy, as he finds nefarious "brokers" who can acquire for him valid and legal diplomatic credentials. Before long, Brugger secures a position as consul for…

Remember that time you went skydiving? Or hunting? Or you fixed your car all by yourself? Remember how it made you feel like a real man, and you celebrated by shotgunning a six-pack and crushing the cans on your head? Remember how badass you felt?

Well pick up your nuts and place them gently back into your purse because Mads Brugger has officially won at “Man.”

This dude faked his way into the Central African Republic under the guise of being a foreign diplomat. Hobnobbed with highly ranked, highly corrupt and probably highly murderous government officials and more than likely left with a shitload of blood diamonds.

And he filmed it all. Secretly. With spy glasses.

The Central African Rebuplic…