African Warlord Who Killed 20,000 People Repents; Now Christian Evangelist

It’s a story of transformation that has surprised thousands and shocked all who have heard: a brutal African warlord with a violent past finds Christ and dramatically turns his life around.

Selected for The Economist Film Project, an initiative by The Economist in partnership with PBS NewsHour, “The Redemption of General Butt Naked” is a chilling documentary about the changed life of Joshua Milton Blahyi, once dubbed to be one of Liberia’s most feared warlords.

Now renouncing his violent past – which includes confessing to killing nearly 20,000 people during Liberia’s 14-year civil war – after converting to Christianity, Blahyi seeks to reinvent himself as an evangelist, traveling the nation as a preacher and asking for forgiveness from those whom he had hurt in the past.

Filmmakers Eric Strauss and Daniele Anastasion spent five years with Blahyi, closely following his troubled life as he sought forgiveness from his former soldiers and his numerous victims.

Strauss had become interested in Blahyi after he read about him in a book called The World’s Most Dangerous Places.

“It was just a tiny blurb about a notorious warlord who had killed thousands and was now walking the streets preaching truth and reconciliation,” Strauss told The Los Angeles Times. “I wondered, ‘Could someone like this really exist?’”

“Was transformation this extreme even possible?” Anastasion added. “And how would that play out in the real world?”

Offering a glimpse into their questions through their documentary, the filmmakers created “The Redemption of General Butt Naked,” highlighting faith and forgiveness.

“The film forces [viewers] to question the very nature of what true, meaningful reconciliation looks like in a country where justice has not been available,” the film’s website noted.

“It’s only Christianity that can help this nation, because Christianity, it is the only belief, the only faith that tell you to love your enemies, that tell you to accept and forgive the one who hurts you,” Blahyi stated in an excerpt from the movie, according to PBS.

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