Denzel Washington’s casting as the ancient Carthaginian general Hannibal in Antoine Fuqua’s Netflix movie has sparked controversy in Tunisia, Hannibal’s home country. There are complaints from the Tunisian parliament about depicting Hannibal as a Black African, with concerns about historical accuracy. 

Some members of the Tunisian parliament, including Yassine Mami, have expressed concerns about the portrayal of Hannibal as a Black African, stating that he was of West Asian Semitic origin. There are worries about the potential falsification of history. 

Tunisian Culture Minister Hayet Ketat-Guermazi takes a more pragmatic stance, acknowledging that it’s fiction and Netflix’s right to depict characters as they see fit. She expresses pride in Hannibal being Tunisian and hopes to negotiate with Netflix to shoot part of the film in Tunisia to promote the country as a filming location. 

This controversy in Tunisia is compared to the uproar in Egypt over Adele James, a mixed heritage actor, playing Cleopatra in Netflix’s docudrama Queen Cleopatra. Egyptian academics objected to the portrayal, arguing that Cleopatra was of European descent and not Black. 

The untitled film about Hannibal is written by John Logan, an Academy Award winner, and is based on the real-life warrior’s pivotal battles against the Roman Republic during the Second Punic War. The movie aims to cover Hannibal’s military leadership and victories, including his invasion of Italy and subsequent defeat at the Battle of Zama.