Alex is a 9-year old Tanzania kid with a clean bill of health and a hunger for good, old American movie violence. He’s the face of a new campaign from Mama Hope to show ignorant Westerners like me that Africa isn’t just starvation and AIDS and genocide. It’s a place of greater hope and treasures like smart children, unique cultures and Charlize Theron. When Alex learned that the Mama Hope people were from California he busted into a 15-minute retelling of the movie Commando, which is my second favorite movie about kidnapping and revenge behind Hotel For Dogs.
While Alex is incredibly cool and definitely way better than Lights Camera Jackson, I think we should send movies like Commando to evil dictators and genocidal leaders in Africa with notes that read: “He’s coming for you.” And then we send Arnold Schwarzenegger over as a diplomat, oblivious to the fact that we sent his movie over, and watch them all freak out. Boom, world peace, son.
(More information on Mama Hope here.)