By Avellon Williams
PARIS – The French defense minister condemned the Marvel Studios film “Black Panther: Wakanda Forever” for depicting French soldiers in Africa in a way that is “false and misleading.”
In a Sunday tweet about the film that premiered in France and the U.S. last November, Minister Sebastien Lecornu strongly condemned the similarity between a fictional group of villainous mercenaries and the French armed forces.
This film revolves around the plot of a fictional African nation, Wakanda, versus Western nations seeking to control metal resources. The minister retweeted a scene from the film showing soldiers with their hands tied behind their backs before the United Nations in Geneva, wearing uniforms very similar to those of French troops in Africa’s Sahel region. A scene in the movie shows mercenaries captured in Mali by Wakandans after they attacked an outpost.
Je condamne fermement cette représentation mensongère et trompeuse de nos forces Armées.
— Sébastien Lecornu (@SebLecornu) February 12, 2023
Je pense et rends hommage aux 58 soldats français qui sont morts en défendant le Mali à sa demande face aux groupes terroristes islamistes. https://t.co/KpnFIcatPt
“I am thinking of and honoring the 58 French soldiers who died defending Mali, at its request, in the face of Islamist terrorist groups,” Lecornu added.
