Summarize this content to 2000 words in 6 paragraphs in Arabic Stay informed with free updatesSimply sign up to the Film myFT Digest — delivered directly to your inbox.The Battle for Laikipia begins with an idyllic vista of African wildlife: elephants, giraffes and buffalo observed by safari tourists. Then their guide unceremoniously confronts herders grazing their flock: “Don’t ever enter this ranch again.” An archive clip of black-and-white newsreel shades in the historical context, proclaiming the benefits of a European-run order.Cut back to the very recent past, with Kenya’s Laikipia plateau suffering an extended drought. That exacerbates long-standing tensions between the region’s pastoralists — semi-nomadic herders — and landowners of white European origin who see themselves as no less Kenyan than anyone else. These squires of the savannah, whether running farms or wildlife conservancies, have blocked the age-old migration routes of tribes such as the Samburu, and in Laikipia anti-landowner militancy is on the increase. Meanwhile, the Kenyan government is taking hardline measures against the herders and killing their animals. Daphne Matziaraki and Peter Murimi’s documentary argues for the rights of the Samburu, with one of their members, Simeon Letoole, providing a persuasive voiceover commentary. But the other side also state their case, sometimes coming across sympathetically — notably the late Maria Dobbs, whose family arrived in Kenya in the 1910s, and who is now anxious about climate change, reduced funds and baleful feelings in the region: “So beautiful . . . but underneath, it’s like a little bubbling volcano.” Less charming is others’ bullish take on confronting the pastoralists, one joke about napalm having a distinct ring of Apocalypse Now.Frustratingly, the film doesn’t fully explore all the matters raised: we learn little about the politicians and cartels whose ownership of massive herds is apparently accelerating the collapse of traditional pastoralist life. Otherwise, this is a sober, informative film that shows a nation that has been independent for more than 60 years, yet is still haunted by the very active spectre of colonialism.★★★★☆In cinemas from October 4
