A revolution is a change in power that typically occurs over a short time period. Thomas Sankara was a revolutionary that had a prophecy to set Africans at a distance from colonial configuration. A well deprived country in West Africa known as Upper Volta hardly justified any mention outside that province until Thomas Sankara deposed the country's fraudulent military governance in 1984 and gave a new name Burkina Faso to the country known as Upper Volta. Translated to English Burkina Faso means "The Land of Upright People ", this new name captivated the masses. The revolution Sankara set forth to change politics with in the Land of Upright people did not necessarily correspond well with great colonial powers.
Sankara's fondness for creativity and avant-garde politics gave rise to a complex legacy. His civic and monetary reforms were not forged of ideas from the colonial democrats but from Sankara's own mind which he sought to benefit his people. The new turn of politics Sankara put forth created some confusion with the people of Burkina Faso. They had a hard time leveling it with his frequent undemocratic style of politics. His revolutionary ideals may have led to his expiration and vicious death.
The film "An Upright Man,"" follows and examines how Sankara brought forth the renovations of Burkina Faso and Africa's debt to the democratic colonial rulers and the international banks. He also religiously spoke of economic self-sufficiency and self-reliance. He rejected Bank loans from the West and endorsed local food and local production of clothing and other goods. The luxuries that came along with being a government official such as being transported in a Mercedes and flying first class on airplanes, he was so prudent on not being looked to as more than human he even ask for his portrait not to be hung in public build as were previous presidents requested. "Sankara reduced the salaries of ministers and chief public sever ants, starting with his own, from now on public servants are no longer driven around in expensive Mercedes but in cheaper cars "(Shuffield).