Le Malentendu colonial / The Colonial Misunderstanding examines Christian evangelism as the forerunner of European colonialism in Africa, and as the ideological model North-South relationships. On the occasion of the centenary of the1904 German genocide of the Herero people, it notably considers the missionaries' role in Namibia.
The film reveals how colonialism destroyed African beliefs and social systems, replacing them with European ones promoted as the only acceptable route to modernity. As Prof. F. Kangué Ewané says in the film: “I can forgive Westerners for taking away my land ...but not for taking away my mind and soul.”