It seems that the signs of a political and cultural crisis began to loom on the horizon between France and the United States of America, against the background of an American film that annoyed the French government because, according to it, it included an insult to the French soldiers.
The movie "Black Panther: Wakanda Forever" - which was released in international theaters at the end of 2022 - talks about a fictional African kingdom with precious metal, which some Western countries are trying to control using mercenary groups.
In one of the scenes of the film, the Queen of Wakanda appears, as she delivers a speech at the United Nations in front of the international community, and says that her kingdom is aware of plans to launch an attack to control the precious minerals in her country, after which a group of bound soldiers enters, wearing uniforms remarkably similar to the uniforms of the French forces that were deployed. In the African Sahel region, even in the framework of Operation Barkhane.
The clip also showed a supposed French delegate, who appears in the film at the position of accountability before the United Nations, for what the soldiers committed.
And it seems that the scene disturbed the French government, as Defense Minister Sebastien Locorno commented on his official account on Twitter, saying: "I strongly condemn this misleading and deceptive representation of our armed forces, and I salute the 58 French soldiers who died defending Mali at its request against terrorist groups."
However, the ministry, on the other hand, said that it would not demand the withdrawal of an artwork or the imposition of censorship on it.
France is disturbed by a fictional movie
Episode (2/14/2023) of the “Networks” program followed the comments of Arab tweeters about “France’s anger” at the American movie, most of which came in the context of sarcasm and ridicule, as the annoyance with a fictional movie issued by a country that has long presented itself as a protector of freedom of expression, and defended On behalf of its affiliated media, it published materials that provoked the provocation of Muslims by insulting their symbols and sanctities.
With sarcasm, Jawad tweeted: "Mama France's anger at a fictional movie. France is freedom of expression and defends everything published by the Charlie Hebdo newspaper. Its defense minister and the French government are protesting behind him against a fictional movie, because it depicts French soldiers kneeling before the king of Wakanda, which is a fictional kingdom."
In his gloating tweet, Olivier Tisquet said: "France is so sensitive to media misinformation in Mali that the French Minister of Armies does not distinguish between reality and imagination... Here he criticizes the embodiment of French soldiers in the movie Black Panther Part Two."
While Ibrahim was more serious, saying in his tweet: "France, which brags about freedom of expression whenever its notorious magazine insults the peoples of the region and misleads them against Islam and Muslims, its minister attacks freedom of expression in the United States of America, by attacking a movie that represents only a small part of reality."
While Al-Batoul saw in the film an insult from America to France, she wrote, "America insults France in the new Marvel movie and shows a snapshot showing women from Africa showing French mercenary prisoners before the United Nations and accusing them of stealing African wealth (uranium)."
As for Mr. Junitsu, he considers the most realistic thing in the movie, is that "France tried to steal vibranium (a fictional mineral)," adding, "If a country is to do that, it is France."
It is noteworthy that in 2014 France deployed more than 5 thousand soldiers in Mali, Niger, Chad, Burkina Faso and Mauritania to fight armed groups and limit their influence, while French President Emmanuel Macron announced in 2022 the end of the "Barkhane" mission after tension with the military council in Mali, which seized power in a coup in the same year.
After the French forces left, a group of Russian "Wagner" paramilitary forces arrived in northeastern Mali.