Ashanti (1979 film) main subject slavery
Ashanti (also called Ashanti, Land of No Mercy) is a 1979 action adventure film directed by Richard Fleischer and starring Michael Caine, Peter Ustinov, Kabir Bedi, Beverly Johnson, Omar Sharif, Rex Harrison, and William Holden. It is based on the 1974 novel Ébano by Alberto Vázquez-Figueroa, with a screenplay written by Stephen Geller and an uncredited George MacDonald Fraser. The story is set against the background of modern-day slave trading, with a man who determinedly takes on a perilous journey in order to find his beautiful wife, who has been kidnapped by brutal slave traders.
Despite its impressive cast and setting (on location in the Sahara, and in Kenya, Israel, and Sicily), Ashanti was widely panned by critics upon release. Michael Caine was reportedly very disappointed with the project and claims it was the third worst film along with his previous films The Magus and The Swarm (despite appearing in other failures in the 1980s). It was one of Holden's final films, and the final film of cinematographer Aldo Tonti.