Streaming giant accused of placing ‘Afrocentric’ slant on history by giving the role of young Canaanite leader to a veteran black actor
Tunisians have accused Netflix of “stealing” their history by casting Denzel Washington as General Hannibal in an upcoming film about the military leader who almost toppled Rome.
They say, Hannibal, who famously marched elephants over the Alps with his infantry and cavalry, was a Carthaginian of Phoenician background, meaning he was most likely descended from West Asian Semitic people and not sub-Saharan Africans.
Some Tunisians have also complained that Washington, the star of Malcolm X and Macbeth, is too old for the role.
The Oscar-winning actor is 68, whereas Hannibal was in his late twenties when he invaded Italy during the Second Punic War in the third century BC. Washington’s casting in the film, which is due to start filming next year, was announced by Netflix in November.
The streaming giant said he was preparing to take the part of “one of the greatest military leaders in recorded history”. But Yassine Mami, an MP, raised the issue in Tunisia’s parliament, saying there was “a risk of falsifying history” by having a black actor represent the general.
Mr Mami, president of a tourism and culture committee, said it was important to “defend Tunisian identity”. In an editorial, the French language newspaper La Presse said that the prospect of Washington playing the role “is not appealing to many critics” and that it would be a “historical error” because Hannibal was a “white Semite”.
A petition has been launched, urging the Tunisian culture ministry to “enshrine in law measures protecting and fostering our culture and to act against this attempt to steal our history”. The organisers of the petition said Netflix was propagating an “Afrocentric” view of history.
Debates about ethnicity in Tunisia have become particularly charged since the president, Kais Saied, made xenophobic remarks earlier this year about sub-Saharan African migrants living in the country. He accused them of wanting to change the demographic makeup of Tunisia.
The comments, which were criticised by the African Union as “racialised language”, prompted several attacks on migrants in Tunisian towns and cities and sparked an exodus, with thousands trying to sail across the Mediterranean towards Italy.
Netflix has a recent history of playing fast and loose with reality when it comes to the ethnicity of many of the most important historical figures. Not long ago, they provoked anger in Egypt by giving the part of Cleopatra to a mixed-heritage actress. The Egyptian Government pointed out, quite correctly, that all depictions of Cleopatra from the era of her rule portray her as olive-skinned with Hellenistic features, as you would expect from someone descended from the Macedonian General Ptolemy I Soter.
In the UK, we have seen many examples of late where there are attempts to change the ethnicity of many British historical figures. One example is a recent episode of Dr Who where an actor of mixed heritage depicted Sir Issac Newton. Many media sources in the UK, including both the BBC and Sky TV, have alluded that Lucius Septimius Severus, a Roman Emperor who died on campaign in Britain in 211AD, was of sub-Saharan African heritage and proclaiming him as one of the First ‘Black’ Britons.
In reality, Lucius had a Roman mother and a father who was Carthaginian; Carthaginians were descended from Settlers from what is now Lebanon, so the probability that he was Sub-Saharan is minuscule, but the media and particular academics are not ones to allow the truth to stop them from pushing a racial agenda.
The push to try to rewrite British history is embarrassing, leading to ridiculous situations such as what happened recently when a plaque that had been put up in an East Sussex Village celebrating the 1,800-year-old remains of ‘Beachy Head Lady’ as Britain’s first ‘Black’ woman was taken down after scientific research revealed she was ‘most likely from Cyprus’.
The truth is that presentism, which is the practice of interpreting history through modern perspectives and beliefs, can often lead to inaccurate conclusions. It’s important to remember that historical people didn’t view the world through the lens of critical race theory or other modern ideologies. Instead of trying to rewrite history to fit current beliefs, we should focus on educating our children and young people worldwide about the reality of our nations’ histories, including their heritage, culture, and languages.
