Chameleon takes a look at the life and work of Anas Aremeyaw Anas, an investigative journalist who worked in Ghana.
"Wherever you are," Anas Aremeyaw Anas says to the corrupt, "I am coming." Is Anas a crime fighter? An activist? An investigative journalist? A superhero? In varying degrees, he is all of these things – a Ghanaian one-man Woodward and Batman. He's also the subject of a tight, balanced, rough documentary by Ryan Mullins, who embeds himself with Anas as the African journalist works covertly with law-enforcement officials in cracking down on a suspicious religious sect.
The film is called Chameleon for Anas's use of disguises. As for his journalism, Anas leans toward the sensational – tabloid headlines scream about the "bonking pastor" or the "sexy lord of abortion" – and his fondness for alliteration is outrageous. He's also controversial. A newsman with the Ghana Journalists Association frowns upon Anas's use of subterfuge, and the busting-up of a prayer camp is legally questionable. Among the Ghanaians, however, Anas is a masked crusader, his pen and sword being one and the same.
Brad Wheeler