Although Blind Ambition touches on the ravages of colonialism, racism and xenophobia, the documentary stays firmly within the “something good to watch with your family” genre. Depending on your point of view, this can be understood as a strength. The film follows four Zimbabwean immigrants living in South Africa who travel to France to represent their home country at the World Wine Tasting Championships. The title refers to a central element of the tasting: the bottles from which the tasters drink are covered to avoid any advantage in determining the origin of the wine or prejudices about the wine.
That wine tasting is a completely rich and white western pastime is not up for debate. Not only does it take a lot of money to be exposed to a wide variety of wines (or, say, take a tour of the vineyards of the South of France) to develop the palate, but familiarity with fruits like strawberries is also required. who are native to Europe. For those outside of these regions, the learning curve is significantly steeper. This is true even for the elite: aspiring South African and Chinese tasters are limited by the wines that are imported into their country. The documentary shows how, once in Burgundy, the (all-white) South African team undergoes the same rigorous training as the Zimbabweans.
Directors: Robert Coe, Warwick Ross
Writers: Robert Coe, Paul Murphy, Madeleine Ross
Of course, the elitist nature of wine tasting begs the question: who cares? Why does this “sport” that perpetuates all the worst aspects of food culture continue to exist, especially considering the number of scientific studies that have seemingly completely disproved the objectivity of wine tasting? Why would anyone want to be a part of this? Throughout the film, the Zimbabwean team makes it clear that they want to “taste” their national palate on the international stage. This is alternatively a revolutionary act: to dispel the centuries-old image of the passive and colonized Other; reject the idea that the poor have no taste; to affirm the complex personality of immigrants, and a manifestation of the politics of respectability: taking an old-fashioned refinement test while at an extreme disadvantage.
Blind Ambition makes no attempt to prove such contradictions, preferring instead to focus on the poignant example of the exceptional over the many: entertainment that is inspiring and doesn't push too far against the status quo. The Zimbabwean team recount their long but largely identical journey to wine tasting: each managed to land a job at an extremely posh white-owned restaurant after making the harrowing journey across the border. Although this is intended to humanize them, the film sometimes adheres too strictly to the formal and narrative conventions of contemporary docuseries, divvying up the men's lives out of wine into small, bland bites: Pardon Taguzu becomes "the sportsman", while Marlvin Gwese is "the religious one".
These bubbling sequences manage to raise a host of social, economic, and historical issues, but directors Robert Coe and Warwick Ross choose not to ask their subjects about them. Tinashe Nyamudoka, who is creepily introduced in slow motion and runs his outstretched fingers through the wild grass, is deeply connected to her family's farm and wants to grow his own wine there. This desire presents a myriad of issues related to native plants, land use, and food culture in a part of the world that has been aggressively exploited for its natural resources for several hundred years, but Nyamudoka's perspective must be imagined. .
Blind Ambition also doesn't show Africans who aren't serving as human interest stories that respond to or even establish themes. While all the talking wine experts are white, unsurprisingly (but not entirely excusable), the filmmakers choose to have only two white interviewees explain Zimbabwe's financial crisis and the tensions caused by the mass immigration of Zimbabweans to South Africa.
However, it could be argued that the response of indigenous Africans to the exploitation of white Europeans is documented in scenes involving the team's coach, Denis Garrett. Supposedly once the world's greatest wine taster, Garrett is initially introduced as a charming French eccentric who is past his prime. It soon becomes clear that this man is not only extremely irritating, but he is so self-obsessed that he actively undermines the team's performance.
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