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France's defense minister denounced the way he believes French soldiers were depicted in "Black Panther: Wakanda Forever," saying their representation was "false and misleading."
In a tweet on Sunday (February 12), Minister Sebastien Lecornu “strongly condemned” a fictional group of villainous mercenaries seen in the movie that he believes were a reflection of French armed forces members, months after the film's debut in November, per NBC News.
Lecornu retweeted a scene from the film showing a group of soldiers with their hands tied behind their backs while wearing uniforms that resemble those of French troops deployed in Africa’s Sahel region. In the movie, the mercenaries were captured by the people of Wakanda after they attacked an outpost in Mali.
“I am thinking of and honoring the 58 French soldiers who died defending Mali, at its request, in the face of Islamist terrorist groups,” the minister tweeted.
According to NBC News, the topic is sensitive in French, which completely withdrew from Mali last year after fighting Islamic extremists for nine years. France recently announced that it would also be withdrawing its troops from Burkina Faso this month.
Thousands of French soldiers are still deployed in the Sahel region, particularly in Niger and Chad.
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