The documentary “The Redemption of General Butt Naked” (2011) tells the story of Joshua Milton Blahyi--aka General Butt Naked. A feared warlord during Liberia’s civil war, he’s now a Christian evangelist travelling around West Africa preaching love, forgiveness and redemption.

There was never a war crimes court in Liberia or justice for the estimated 250,000 victims who died in the war. Even the country’s former president, Charles Taylor, was found guilty last week of war crimes, but for atrocities committed in neighbouring Sierra Leone, not in his own Liberia.

Co-director, producer and award-winning cinematographer Eric Strauss talked to Lauren Comiteau about redemption, forgiveness and the limits of sincerity in a country without justice.

What led you to the story of General Butt Naked?

I came across General Butt Naked’s story in a book in 2003, ‘The World’s Most Dangerous Places’ by Robert Young Pelton. There was just a small blurb about General Butt Naked, once a warlord now a preacher, walking the streets of Monrovia preaching peace and forgiveness and reconciliation.

It kind of gut punched me. Could this be real? So I went out there in 2005. It took a while to find him. I met him in a refugee camp, Buduburam, outside of Accra, Ghana. We went out there to explore if the character was as layered and complex as we had hoped.

So was he as layered and complex as you had hoped?

I certainly thought so. He’s a very complex guy, whatever you make of him, and we found him very difficult to wrap our minds around. On the one hand, his crimes are truly horrific and there’s no doubt an individual like that should be behind bars. But the situation in Liberia doesn’t really offer that option for these individuals.
So we have to suspend that on some level and look at the situation as Liberians are facing it. Which is what [co-director and producer] Daniele Anastasion and I were attempting to do—put the audience in that uncomfortable position where you have to come to an understanding of these individuals.

There’s no war crimes tribunal in Liberia. So all these warlords, all these child soldiers, former child soldiers, rebels, fighters--they all walk the streets amongst the civilian population and it’s very uncomfortable and surreal. Butt Naked is one of the more infamous. And the choice he made to convert, to put his weapons down when he did in 1996—at the height of his power, his infamy, his influence--was fascinating. What was he doing to balance the scales of his past? And is that even possible?

Did you buy his transformation from fearsome general to forgiveness-seeking evangelist?

We approached the film as secular filmmakers. The motivations for his change--I’d hesitate to use the word ‘redemption’--were certainly faith-based. But we were interested in his actions.

Blahyi is not unique in his crimes. The fact that he and his gang were stripped naked--that was unique, and so are his endeavours now. But the horror and the depravity of what he perpetrated there was unfortunately not unique during those 14 horrific years of civil war.

For us as filmmakers, it was: Is he sincere? And even if he is sincere, does it matter? Because whether or not Blahyi is genuine only takes you so far. You can accept he’s genuine but still say it’s not enough, that there still needs to be justice.

I do believe that Blahyi’s conversion is complete and genuine in that he has put down the General Butt Naked persona. However, he’s still a deeply flawed individual. And for me, no matter how genuine he is in his attempts, you’re talking about thousands of lives lost. I still think a nation like Liberia deserves some accountability.

The Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Liberia (TRC) recommends there be a war crimes court. But clearly, that never happened in Liberia...

The issue of a war crimes court is hugely politicised in Liberia. As part of the 2003 peace accords, it was understood that there wouldn’t be a war crimes court. In lieu of that, what the nation would do in return for all the rebel groups laying down their arms would be to have a TRC to help in healing and reunification and constructing a narrative of what happened. Unfortunately, I think it’s up in the air how successful the TRC was.

As far as getting a court to come afterwards, the people who are heads of state were figures who had some degree of power during the civil war. Their reticence to see a court come is really what prevents one arriving in the country.

The TRC recommended some people for prosecution, others not. Did they ever give a reason for their decision not to recommend General Butt Naked for prosecution, given the staggering 20,000 deaths he admitted responsibility for before the TRC?

I think they were moved in many ways by his story, by his transformation, by the actions they saw him engage in after he put down his weapons. I also think that because the TRC was so politicised and those involved in the war were so hesitant to come before it, that it rewarded those who took the process seriously and willingly came forward. Blahyi was really the first. He came forward of his own accord and then became instrumental in helping bring other perpetrators before the court.

They also brought up Blahyi’s past, his being initiated as a priest of his tribe, into human sacrifice and violence. That he’d been affected deeply by violence at a young age the way other child soldiers would be later--I think that also weighed on their view of him.

Was it difficult to film those moments when Blahyi is meeting his victims, asking for their forgiveness?

Absolutely, we went back and forth over five years. Early in our shooting we were walking through Monrovia with Blahyi. And we run into a woman who was crying, ‘You killed my brother.’ He’s trying to apologize but is fairly aggressive. The women tacitly agreed to us filming. But it made us uncomfortable. We were not prepared for Blahyi to literally bump into victims with such regularity on the streets. Blahyi walks around looking for victims to apologize to. But when there is no justice, Liberians need to find a way to heal, and I think them reaching out did that for them.

And Blahyi seemed quite comfortable in front of the cameras...

I joke that Blahyi isn’t exactly media adverse. He’s very much a performer. He’s a charismatic guy and it’s clear to me why he was a leader both during the war and in many ways now afterwards... But we were concerned that there’s virtually no footage of General Butt Naked in the mid-90s. How were we going to show people this was one and the same man?

There’s a scene of Blahyi in the movie preaching to former child soldiers. Everyone’s getting worked up about doing right and moving forward. It’s kind of disturbing and at that moment, the way he was able to connect with those young men, we realized right there that that footage is General Butt Naked. The words are different, his clothes, but that is exactly who that man was right there.

So what does reconciliation look like in a country without justice?
We [filmmakers] don’t know how far just reconciliation can take them. But I think that’s all Liberians have now. I still think that when you witness a figure like Blahyi engage with his victims, there’s a power dynamic. And in the absence of justice, that power dynamic is very skewed. He’s free to go, and that changes how these two parties interact. I don’t know how we can ever take that out of the way that we view those moments of confrontation or reconciliation.

Visit www.generalbuttnakedmovie.com for information about screenings near you or how to order the film on iTunes or Amazon.