Investigating the white savior-industrial complex

IN 2019, A DEVASTATING NEWS STORY RICOCHETED around the digital-media echo chamber.

- JUDY BERMAN

As one headline summarized it: "American Woman Accused of Letting Hundreds of Ugandan Kids Die at a Fake Clinic." Her name was Renée Bach, and she faced a lawsuit on behalf of two Ugandan mothers who alleged that their children died after being treated at a malnutrition clinic where Bach practiced medicine without a license. (The case was settled in 2020.)

The three-part HBO docuseries Savior Complex revisits the thorny affair, previously dissected in the podcast The Missionary, adding updates, on-camera interviews, and nuance without sacrificing accountability. Filmmaker Jackie Jesko's disinclination to paint Bach as a bloodthirsty butcher or her detractors as heroic racial-justice crusaders is sure to rankle some viewers. But what emerges instead are revelations more astute and more disturbing, forged in a crucible of race, religion, money, and global politics.