The article is a critical essay analyzing Haile Gerima's 2026 film 'Black Lions—Roman Wolves: The Children of Adwa,' focusing on its exploration of Italy's colonial occupation of Ethiopia and the repression of this history. The author uses a scene from Gerima's earlier film 'Teza'—featuring children playing near a decaying fascist monument in Ethiopia—as a starting point to discuss how colonial memory and trauma are cinematically excavated.
It matters because the piece situates Gerima's work as a vital counter-narrative to Italy's ongoing historical amnesia and self-exculpatory rhetoric regarding its fascist colonial past, particularly under the current government. The essay frames the film as an act of historical and political intervention, challenging the erasure of colonial violence and examining the lasting psychological and generational impacts of imperialism.