Without the King Trailer -- Swaziland

[ConstantineRobbins]

a DAD'NT KNOW THat thare was so MANNY bLACK PAPLE and SWATZERLAND??

[brian8793]

We need a President with balls, like Ronald Reagan. What's going on in this country is nonsense. Pure and utter nonsense. The people live on 60 cents a day, and the king flies in a private jet?

I'm sorry, but if I lived in Swaziland, I would be forming a militia to overthrow that archaic way of governing.

We need Mitt Romney in 2012. People don't know who he is, but they will in 2012...

[PreciousHime]

I saw that yesterday on tv, and damn that king has a lot of wives!! He also married them in their tweens.. Why can't he stick to one person at the time?? Not only him,but also people with more than one wife.. I mean.. What's their problem? I'm totally against it.

[orniepouille]

@PreciousHime yeah me too i just saw it on tv and i was like wtf... i dont know where u live but im guessing that you are from a western country. I am Canadian and I have a hard time believing that a king is still in power while 40% of the population is dying of aids he and his family are living a nice life while others suffer and the population has no voice i believe in democracy so its kinda hard to understand this way of life.. and the 12 wives dont make sense to me either O.o lol

[PreciousHime]

@orniepouille Oh! I'm Canadian too. I check on Wikipedia the other day and now he has married 14 wives and has 20+ children. Also, 3 of his wifes cheated on him.

[orniepouille]

@PreciousHime lol i don't blame them... its soo wrong in the documentary they said some of his wives are younger than his oldest daughter o.O makes no sense to me... they need a democracy or if they rly love their king they can at least have a contitutional monarchy ( like us) I am french canadian so im not a big fan of the queen lol but at least we vote for the one that rules our country and we don't have the issues that they have in the end i think the king is money hungry and a dictator..

[PreciousHime]

@orniepouille No way?! I'm French Canadian too! Montréal ?

[orniepouille]

@PreciousHime woww same here !

[PreciousHime]

@orniepouille C'est cool ^^ I think that we should stop commenting on the video page since it has turned into something hors-sujet, lol !

[LaShezy007]

THE KING HAS ADVISORS AND THEY R CORRUPT !!!THE KING GIVES MONEY TO THE ADVISORS TO GIVE TO CHARITIES AND THE ADVISORS PUT THE MONEY IN THEIR OWN POCKETS. ITS NOT LIKE THE KING ISNT DOIN ANYTHING ABOUT THE PROBLEMS. @Tem848 swaziland is a peacful country if it was under the rule of a president a lot of unecessary wars would break it was for a reason that political parties were banned kaNgwane.DO NOT CRITISIZE THE KING HE IS ONLY HUMAN AND HE IS NOT PERFECT TRY BEING KING AND SEE HOW HARD IT IS !

[Tem848]

D ppl hav spkn..."We ar tird of d mnrchy"...I join dm..I say nginguNgwane I wnt my fridm.I wnt to spread my wings!I want to say whteva I like!Fridm of spich.Fridm of xpresion.@yoSwaziboy u know what that means?It mins Sipho Jele would wear his PUDEMO T-shirt witout being kild ..The Director of ds film is telng d world "Luk Swazlnd is no diamond.Luk at wat d ppl ar going thru.Luk @ d King's wives enjoy a shopng spree in Dubai".Ignoranc, my boy wl kil u!Or mayb u wer covering up 4 Royalty?

[FARRISDELONEY]

I AM AFRICAN AMERICAN BORN IN A SOUTHERN PART OF AMERICA KNOWN AS ARKANSAS.I PERSONALY DONT THINKTHE REST OF THE WORLD SHOULD BE LIKE AMERICA I EVEN CONSIDERD MOVING TO SWAZILAND I THINK IT IS A BEAUTIFUL PLACE.BUT I ALSO HAVE LOOKED AT THE STATS THAT HAVE BEEN REPORTED ON POVERTY ON THE COMPLAINTS OF ITS COUNTRY MEN AND WOMEN I COULD GIVE A FUCK LESS ABOUT THIS DOCUMENTARY BUT I CRIED FOR THE PEOPLE AND YES AMERICA DOES HAVE IT SHARE OF FUCKED UP THINGS THAT GO ON WE HAVE HOMLESS,POVERTY ETC

[Lordangers]

@FARRISDELONEY I am European, I am thinking of moving to Swaziland too

[SaveChinaTiger]

The king is one of the richest man in the world yet he let his people starve. I'll bet there is going to be a swazi revolution in my lifetime

[mezerome]

can someone PLEASE tell me where I can watch this amazing movie? (or maybe post it on youtube in parts?)

[WAYNE5623]

You will never have the pleasure of understanding the beauty and culture of this wonderful land if you follow one sided nonsense. The Swazi way of life and the king is only appreciated if you humble yourself and remove your westernised thoughts of "democracy". It is a system so unique and it will be sad if ever it is changed.

the King is a peaceful and loving man. The love the nation has for him is genuine and not fabricated as it is in most of the west.

Bayete

[unsureandunaware]

Go Swaziland! I did my project about Swaziland fo school!

[jodhgarh]

presdiential republics suck! man kind developed, civilisations grew from kingdoms and monarchy , yes democracy is needed but in a constitutional monarchy, how long have republics b een here for couple hundreds years only? plus its just a fad presidents will die out and monarchy wil be brought back. wat would u have a person who cares aobut his country or a person who cares about gettin in next term so he can make that golf course in the presedential mansions backyard

[polandoful]

You know Emaswati ngemaSwati kwaphela nya keep your america and we will keep our Swaziland

[polandoful]

Long live the kingdom of Swaziland.They can talk whatever they like but Swaziland would always be.N ever allow those hypocrites corrupt our culture and change swaziland long ive the King

[AXA0032]

The same concept of eternal perpetuity existed in every kingdom and empire that has collapsed throughout time, the lesson is that nothing last forever especially when its foremost family resembles more an American reality show done in very bad taste than the dignified example they should be to one of the most beleaguered people of the world. Swaziland only needs to teach its royals the lessons of noblesse oblige and social duty to secure the survival of the crown.

[dragarg100]

niya kaka nine swazi rocks

[daisyhotchy21]

omg. fantastic film seen it already at "bigmovies4free", anybody else seen it? gr8 acting all the way through

[guvnorz1]

long live swaziland.we love our country.its fantastic.who wants to live in america.you killed the red indians.

[SuperZox]

u know what..come & visit swazialnd to experince her, b4 blabing crap guys..u hav no facts..swazialnd rocks man, plus we love ur king.

[Namiba23]

Swazilnad is crippled by an Aids epidemic that the king doesn't seem to care about. He would rather spend money on Palaces for his wives and private jets for himself instead of using the Money ro combat Aids. Also there is no real democracy in swaziland. Is this a country you woud like to live in?

TBH the princess of this country in this video should take over this country becasue she has lived outside it she knows how terrible and backward it is amd what needs to be done.

[jodhgarh]

I agree theirs no problem with monarchy if its constitiutional and the people have more democratic style rule with parliement but absolute monarchy is jus bullying really the princess should change it to constitutional monarchy and rebring the constitution and parliement, she would be a better ruler in my opinion because she knows about the problems facing the people and she is more in touch with them.

[guvnorz1]

swaziland for ever.long live the king,long live the king! we are proud people,and we are very proud of our king.look at the queen of england and all the politicans.they live,spend money that the people never see,in england people are taxed more than any other country.wake up smell the coffee all over the world the rich getting richer,poor getting poorer.not just in swaziland.long live the king!

[swazi777]

wake up. you're society is crumbling. you're all dying for many, many different reasons. you should probably think about changing something, because whatever you're doing isn't working. do you want to be proud or dead?

[jodhgarh]

i agree with u guys but what if the king switched to a constitutional monarchy then u guys would have king and parleiment system with both sharing eqaul power, im jus sayin and givin like my opinion lol oh and swazialand is a landlocked country so were do u guys get ur water from? is their a river going threw Swaziland or a lake?

[eithan915]

Swaziland developed into a great country because of King Sobuza, King Mswati has not followed his father's footsteps in improving the situation in his country, as he should. Swaziland needs more kings or leaders like Sobuza who is passionate about the wellbeing of his people instead of a 2 million dollar private jet. Having lived there myself I know that Swaziland has pottential to be an even greater nation, unfortunatelly very little is being done to achieve that goal.

[guvnorz1]

long live the king of swaziland. look at all the western leaders,take a look at europe,america look what these countrys do the people.

[TruthSeeker4000]

What are you talking about? Citizens in these countries receive social security and employment, proper health care systems and free education, they have high life expectancies and they do not go hungry. The systems are not perfect, but they are democratic and people have freedom of expression. What has the king done for his people huh? 40% unemployment? 40% HIV/AIDS? Low life expectancy? What has he done to solve these problems? How can he live such a lavish life when the country is in shambles?

[swazi777]

comparing Swaziland to Europe and America is like comparing apples and oranges. my goodness, you have an average life expectancy of 32 years in your country. it is 79 here in America. this type of ignorance is why the Swazi's may be extinct in another 20 years!

[yoSwaziBoy1]

what the fuck is this? why do westerners think they every fuckn thing there world needs like half of americans arnt in prison with a nation filled with homos and drugs over polluted with gangbangers and dum celebrities, we know the shit that goes down. Swaziland is a beautiful country yet you manage to take shots at most unpleasent looking places like which you must have searched realy hard to find coz swaziland has developed a great deal!

[jodhgarh]

yeah i know what u mean like my grandparnets and origin is from india im born in canada but when i hear on news and stuff they will never talk about india being a worldpower, or huge population,or cultures, thousaands of years of dynasties and kingdoms or military power but the will show stupid things like a dirty little street full of junk and stuf they always talk about poverty and dirty and pollutied places and say indias poor but never show pics of good things, america has negatives too.

[sobho20]

michael u ar a disgrace to human kind,tryna make money out of a happy nation.u dont know how wev developed in de past yrs all thanks 2 de King.majority of swazis want things like dey ar no parties 4 us thank u n dats democracy which other democracy do u want 4 us.uve misrepresented our country in a very bad way.comparin swd with usa how ridiculous!!why ar u 1 sided? bad journalism period go back 2 school.

[Gringoman911]

If a monarch isn't a austere ruler, He will lay ruin to his own base of power.Hereditary absolute leaders suck, Usually the good king will more then often be replaced by a series of bad ones.

If the king wants to save his crown or even his head he had better rule with a populist mentality.

[mhawini]

the time is now. we are tired of this traditinal thieves. our tax is drained by this princesses and princes in the name of culture. do we need to spend so much on culture. are we the only country with culture in the world. hell no! we are slowly but surely doing away with the tinkhundla regime. the time for the king and his heirs is up! we are taking over. swaziland is a rich country. its economy is wasted by the king in the name of culture. TOUrists like cacapua do get this!

[mhawini]

its times for change in swaziland! the absolute monarch and the tinkhundla regime with the culture can not rule us anymore. we want to be a constitutional mornachy. we are tired of these cultured thugs!

[mhawini]

if you are ignorant must shut up their big mouth. this film shows the reality of the situation here in swaziland. actually, this is a tip of an iceberg. we have suffered a lot in the name of CULTURE.resources are not evenly distributed here. the king and her heirs enjoy all the welath while the majority of swazis suffer. the constitution is not adhered to.we are suffering. time for democracy in swaziland. TOURISTS wont understand coz they come for CULTURE and no for the political awareness!

[Moroblessings]

mr please tell me what have you suffered from because the is no civil war

[mhawini]

so a civil war is proof that people suffer. we swazis believe in dialogue. we are not the fighting type.but now the anger of the people has shown that it is limited. who knows? resources are not evenly distributed here. only the king and his heirs enjoy

[justjoshin7285]

I look forward to viewing the film for myself, and I hope that yourself and Mr. Mskolniksoze will be open to continued dialogue at that time.

[justjoshin7285]

If we will, as you say, be surprised and embarrassed for our comments once we view the film, then perhaps yourself and Mr. Mskolniksoze should redesign your trailer to more accurately represent the film's message. I have received numerous comments from my Swazi colleagues that Mr. Mskolniksoze misled the public as to the nature of this film, and took liberties with the actual facts on the ground. These reactions seem odd if the film is in fact aimed at promoting the Swazi people.

[justjoshin7285]

Mr. Director,

If the film does not misrepresent life in Swaziland, then your trailer must be a gross misrepresentation of the film, because this trailer greatly twists and distorts the realities of life in Swaziland. This sort of sensationalist representation is not only an example of poor journalistic integrity, but degrades the culture and charachter of proud culture and its people for the mere purpose of driving DVD sales

[mskolniksoze]

For any of those who are beginning the "conspiracy" theories that the filmmaker was paid or that this film was "edited" to make people say things that they actually didn't say -- I urge you to see the film first. Then we can all have a conversation about what is in the film. I think for those who are making erroneous statements on this bulletin will be quite surprised and embarrassed.

[cacapua]

Mr. Director,

I hope indeed that I will be surprised and embarassed. Despite many of my Swazi friends, from politicians to NGO activists to ministers, denouncing the film, I am trying to remain hopeful. I expect that you have done your film/Swaziland more justice than the tone set by the trailer, and very much look forward to a conversation about the film's content after I see it. I assume you wouldn't be opposed to an in-person dialogue if requested?

[lamcanco]

@mskolniksoze

u are just a anna be mivie director,hypocrite

[cacapua]

Swaziland is such a beautiful country rich with culture; too bad the film isn't focusing on that. Or the great strides that local NGOs are taking to combat HIV. Or the students doing community service in socioeconomically poor areas. Or the great strides the country is making in preparation for the 2010 World Cup in South Africa. But good news never sells movie tickets, does it? Look at movies like Blood Diamond and Hotel Rwanda. It's always depicting Africa as the poor, helpless stepchild.

[cacapua]

Don't let this trailer fool you that Swaziland is worse off than any other developing country, where the King/PM/Pres is wealthy compared to the rest of the people. It's like taking a video of Texas, showing people suffering from obesity,and depicting being overweight as a grave problem endemic to only that state. Guess what? Obesity is a problem that the entire COUNTRY is facing. However, if you knew nothing about the USA, you would think that Texas was the only state with the problem.

[cacapua]

Do you really think that the King's daughter would have said negative things about her father and still expect to have her university paid? Or expect to return to Swaziland as royalty? Or bank on remaining a princess? Surely nobody is that stupid.

Watch her comments at 1:12 of this video."I dreamt there was a revolution" then they cut away from the princess to a picture of the King. Listen and you can hear how they cut out the rest and went directly to "don't worry, it was just a dream."

[cacapua]

I am just a white boy from Texas, but I visited Swaziland last summer and now have many friends there. This trailer is an insult and injustice to the Swazi culture and people, with a ridiculous attempt at duping the rest of the world that Swaziland is at a "crossroads." This tiny country is an easy target -- most people will never visit it. So it's easy to take the director's word for whatever "problems" he chooses to create and expose. He has plenty of out-of-context sound bites as ammunition.

[mafindo]

By the way, the princess that's interviewed in the DVD has admitted to being tricked by Micheal skolniksoze, the maker of the film. At lot of the stuff in the trailer were edited to make it seem like there's a major crises in swaziland. By the way, micheal was used by opposition parties in terms of payment to creat lies about swaziland

[mafindo]

Just from the looks of the trailer, u have exaggerated and have focused on one side. Shame on you, now u're going to gain the status you've always wanted. To u viewers, I hope a lot of you will visit swaziland after u watch the Doc so that u'll see the real side of things. U will discover positive things once you're there, even from the king/royal family.

[aussiegirl1976]

It looks amazing Michael. What a journey you would have had. I will see it one way or the other as I am in Australia. Cheers.

[ManakinBird]

Looks great Mike

[krausetrax]

PSYCHED to see this released in the theater soon !!!!

[eltone1]

Cannot wait to see this film! Looks incredible

[justin0202]

Looks amazing... Nice work, James! - Justin from Cambodia :)

[golocj]

Certainly seems to show how culture is indeed political. Thanks Skolnik!

[mskolniksoze]

The film will be released in NY at the Quad Cinema on April 25th and on DVD on July 22nd!

[LUK0BA]

Will you be showing the girls censored?

[lamcanco]

@mskolniksoze

you are a hypocrite,a wanna be movie director I pray u dont make it,youare such a pathetic liar,half the story has been told.

[Omelet4th]

I'm looking forward to it

[charlesrigg2008]

love anything about swaziland and the royal family, very interested about where i can get the full video of this, also a fan of mr.skolnik so know this video should not disappoint, im a optimistic reporter who looks up him as a reporter.

[afh7689]

I believe the only way to view this film is to rent it through Netflix, as Red Envelope Entertainment is Netflix's mark for independent films.