The film takes us back to the early 1990’s in South Africa when Afrikaner extremists clung to the belief that they were the chosen super race of Africa. With the demise of white rule, many of these Boers lived in fear. Some had banded into paramilitary groups, such as Eugene Terre’Blanche’s Afrikaner Resistance Movement, which claimed wide support within the South African army and police. They were preparing for an armed showdown with the new government. My Beloved Country is a film about the frustrations of conservative whites and the way they believed former South African President De Klerk was selling out their country. It was the first documentary to penetrate the heart of the South African extreme right. Scenes of paramilitary training and shocking statements by Terre’Blanche and other Afrikaner ideologues make clear that South Africa was on the eve of what could have been a disaster.
Saskia Vredeveld (South Africa) | South Africa | 1992 | 50 min | English and Afrikaans spoken, English subtitles
Forest of Crocodiles
Dutch premiere
The De Beers were robbed by armed men and held hostage. Their consequent fear has transformed their farmhouse into a gilded cage with double electric fences, panic alarms, satellite tracking systems and perimeter searchlights. ‘If I went on holiday, I wouldn’t relax unless I had the same security as we have here. I can’t imagine anything different.’ What choices do white South Africans make when addressing their fears of crime, violence and black people? Like crocodiles, fearful and well-resourced people can survive without evolving. Other people refuse to submit to their fears because the consequence is regression and isolation.
Mark Aitken (New Zealand) | South Africa | 2010 | 52 min | English spoken
