Mads Cortzen is a diplomat on a mission. Representing Liberia, the Anglo interloper struts about the Central African Republic in colonialist fashion, dragging on cigarettes through an elongated holder, his Danish eyes hidden behind aviator glasses as the sun beats down on his bald pate, sweat pooling in his tight ginger beard. Frequently disparaging the Chinese as untrustworthy "because of the way they look," he throws money at anyone who will take it — which is pretty much everyone. If Cortzen seems like a cartoon, well, that could be because he's really journalist Mads Brugger, sort of Raoul Duke by way of Borat. Illicitly purchasing his ambassadorship, and capturing his attempts to get into the blood-diamond business on hidden cameras, he has neither the playful flamboyance of Sacha Baron Cohen nor Hunter S. Thompson's gonzo way with words. Taken as satire, this isn't particularly funny — but then, the corruption he's exposing is anything but a joke.
