Savior Complex Review 2023 Tv Show Series Cast Crew Online
Every year, many well-meaning American teenagers go to Africa to serve as missionaries to help the poor population. Although this selfless work is currently seen as a good undertaking, it has a serious flaw. It mainly perpetuates a colonial game and forces an unqualified Christian belief on peoples who have nothing to lose. This also applies to Renee Bach, who at the age of 21 started a clinic for malnourished children in Uganda. But when children start dying there, she is labeled the ‘Angel of Death’.
The main problem that Savior Complexpoints out, is Renee’s unlawful medical actions. Because if her age hasn’t given it away yet, she has no knowledge or qualifications whatsoever in the medical field, apart from a basic nursing course. And although that experience is initially enough to run the clinic, it soon reaches its limits.
Savior Complexis in a complex dilemma. On the one hand, an attempt is made to objectively discover the truth about whether or not Renee and her clinic acted ethically. On the other hand, the documentary gets carried away in a sensational (and subjective) experience of an activist counter-movement. With the statement “Never let the truth get in the way of a good story,” Renee puts her finger on the sore spot of the series, which claims neutrality as often as possible.
But neutrality is never absolute, not even in this series. In order to offer Renee a final revenge, the series must first throw her under every possible bus. All her qualities and intentions are destroyed and she is portrayed as a monster, especially by a protest group that wants to banish these ‘white saviors’ from Africa. Renee mainly functions as a scapegoat to expose neo-colonial missionary work.
And that’s not a bad thing, because why should teenagers, who often understand very little about life, be the ones who can solve the problems of an entire continent? And even worse: why do they do this without a good overview or only under the guidance of another young adult? The naivete of many missionaries in particular causes frustrating moments, but above all this fact leads to questions about the multi-million dollar industry that has been formed around them.
At its core, the documentary is about Christian America’s urge to help less privileged peoples out. This bizarre savior complex is personified by Renee, who eventually decides that the medical professionals around her know less about the job than she does. She claims authority and sees herself as the head doctor in her shop. This attitude only makes more enemies and creates friction that could easily have been avoided by leaving the specialized work to the skilled.
That frustration contrasts with emotional images of malnourished children. Especially that of Patricia, a baby who responds poorly to Renee’s medical treatment because she does not recognize a flesh-eating bacterial infection. The images of the suffering child are positioned centrally and raise questions about the intention of the makers. Are they less interested in an answer to the question of whether Renee is a murderer and more focused on sensationalism through poor children?
That last question is also important, because it addresses a fundamental problem with the gaze with which the film was made. In Uganda, an average of one and a half to two children die every day in hospitals, under professional supervision. A doctor interviewed says these numbers match those of Renee’s facility. According to him, the basic health of the Ugandan population is lower than in the United States. This shows that the drama in the figures can actually only be experienced this way from a Western perspective.
Of course, Renee has not acted perfectly with her clinic and has often crossed the line with her actions, but it goes too far to immediately portray her as a murderer. This also means that a lot of nuance is lost and the main dramatic line is based on sensation, which the series must return to in the last half episode to retain some credibility. Because this ‘Angel of Death’ has saved a lot of lives to bear that title.
