Change Your Image
uzulu24
Reviews
Die Voortrekkers (1973)
Epic but historically one-sided
I found a tape of this movie at an Afrikaans-speaking museum on the battlefield of Blood River/Ncome - which rather sums up its niche. It was made during the apartheid era and concentrates on one of the cornerstones of Afrikaner historical ideology - the death of the Voortrekker leader Piet Retief at the hands of the Zulu king Dingane in 1838. Like all David Millin's films, it is quite slowly paced for modern tastes, but follows historical events quite well. It is, however, one sided with Piet Retief portrayed as a (admitedly rather rash) hero and the Zulu king Dingane as the villain. It is the sort of film in which Dingane laughs heartily as he consigns the Boers to their deaths - which is unhistorical in a number of respects (not least because the real Dingane was very self-conscious about his teeth and didn't laugh in public!). But, let's be fair, it was made for an Afrikaans-speaking audience and delivers the story as they would expect. The locations are great, there are excellent shots of Zulus running through the bush, and two quite exciting battles (the attack on the Boer camps at Blaukranz and the battle of eThaleni, when Piet Uys Snr was killed). The Afrikaans language throughout will limit the international audience, but it is still essential viewing for buffs of SA history.
Majuba: Heuwel van Duiwe (1968)
Good battles, limp plot
This is another of David Millin's films inspired by his interest in South African history. It concerns the Transvaal Rebellion of 1881, when the Transvaal attempted to throw off British rule. It is based on Stuart Cloete's novel, 'Hill of Doves', which, let's be honest, is itself just one step up from a bodice-ripper. Apparently the film was shot in two languages, with an English-language throughout edition intended for overseas distribution. Whether this has survived I don't know; certainly the only version I have seen is the one released in South Afrca, which has Afrikaans characters speaking Afrikaans and English characters speaking English. Most of the characters speak Afrikaans! It also seemed shorter than the publicity at the times suggested, so some of the holes in the plot might be due to cuts. The story concerns the impact of the war on a Boer family living near Majuba. Since my Afrikaans is minimal I couldn't follow this, although frankly it doesn't seem to be rocket science. The film also suffers from an inane script (certainly the English bits) and, more fundamentally, from the need to offend neither section of the white South African audience who were its main market. The climactic battle of the war - Majuba - has a deep nationalistic significance to Afrikaners which makes such sensitivities problematic. On the plus side, the film has three great historical tableaux - the battles of Bronkhorstspruit, Laing's Nek and Majuba - and where else in a movie are you going to find those? All three are staged well from a historical point of view, and the lines of redcoats moving around the spectacular veldt locations have an epic quality reminiscent of 'Zulu'. The attack on Laing's Nek - the last time British redcoats carried regimental Colours into action - is particularly well done, although the film inevitably lacks the bloodiness of modern war-pictures. It also takes a curiously detached view of events, the result I suppose of a surprising lack of close-up shots to involve the audience in the action. But, particularly for anyone interested in the history, the attack on Majuba is stunning, and the locations are extremely realistic (it was filmed on Nkwelo mountain, which is next to the real Majuba). Oddly, the dramatic climax of the movie, the death of the British general Colley, takes place off-screen, presumably the result of the political sensitivities referred to - which does rather cut the guts out of it. But it's a very visual film, and, if you have an interest in the history, are not expecting 'Black Hawk Down' and don't mind the lack of sub-titles, it is well worth tracking down.
Shangani Patrol (1970)
Enjoyable film if you accept the historical limitations.
I managed to get a DVD of this film from an outfit called 'Memories of Rhodesia' (I think they are on the web), having searched for some time. I thoroughly enjoyed it - although the print quality isn't great - and the film is pretty much what I expected. Given the time (1970) and place it was made (Rhodesia) I didn't expect a revisionist view of the history, and sure enough I didn't get it. It runs pretty much like a standard Western with the whites as good guys and the Matabele as 'Indians' - which is essentially a historical view (in both cases) weighted towards the settler ideology. It's the Matabele who, in fact, are fighting for their own land. These days Cecil Rhodes and his side-kick Dr Jameson - who engineered the war - are regarded pretty critically by historians, but inevitably there is no trace of that here. Rhodes doesn't appear, and Jameson is portrayed as a tough guy standing up to the Matabele. Rather oddly, the film jumps from the clash between settlers which provoked the war and the pursuit of King Lobengula which ended it (the 'Shangani patrol' of the title), missing out a chunk of battles in between. Once you accept these limitations, however, and the film gets underway it is very enjoyable - although a touch slow for modern tastes. It concentrates on Major Wilson and his decision to pursue Lobengula and the retreating Matabele despite the obvious dangers - it is not entirely uncritical of Wilson, which is a good thing. The human drama comes from the predicament of the individuals under his command as they are cut off by the Matabele. The locations are excellent, the general appearance of the participants (historically speaking) is quite good, and the battle-scenes are plentiful and well staged. Given the subject matter it is pretty bloodless (it seems a bit insipid in these post 'Saving Private Ryan' days) but again that is typical of the time it was made. The ending (I hope I'm not giving much away by saying Wilson's men all die; this is, after all, the Rhodesian equivalent of 'Custer's Last Stand') manages to be quite moving despite the curious 'Butch Cassidy' freeze-frame finish - which I assume was chosen to avoid the contentious (at the time) subject of depicting black Africans killing whites. David Millin's style is inevitably rather dated by modern standards - even by 1970 the South African film industry was pretty isolated from the rest of the wold - but his films deserve a wider audience because they delve into little-known aspects of southern African history. This film doesn't quite have the power of 'Zulu' - a similar theme - but has touches that once or twice come close.