From: reiher@onyx.jpl.nasa.gov (Peter Reiher)
Subject: Re: POWER OF ONE
Reply-To: reiher@onyx.Jpl.Nasa.Gov (Peter Reiher)
Organization: Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, CA
Distribution: rec
Date: Thu, 16 Apr 1992 17:42:21 GMT

In article <1992Apr13.000856.23730@ole.uucp> ssave@ole.uucp (Shailendra Save) writes:
>  Anyone who has seen this movie, a question:
>
>  How true is this movie?

The film is fiction.  The basic attitudes presented are more or less
accurate reflections of popular opinion in South Africa at the time,
perhaps giving more credit to South Africans of British descent than
they deserve.  The types of things the police did to blacks were common
at the time, and for many years afterwards.

>
>  If Germany lost the war, then how come they still had control 
>  of South Africa when the war was over? (1948?)

They did not, at any time, control South Africa.  South Africa has
a complex history.  At about the same time that a group of related
black tribes were migrating down into the area (displacing other black
tribes), Dutch settlers began arriving.  The Dutch immediately began
oppressing the originally indigenous tribes, and, once they ran into
them, began oppressing the relatively new black tribes.  Eventually,
the British took over the area.  They continued in the path paved by
the Dutch, more or less, with a slight diversion during which the
Zulu, one of the newcomer tribes, inflicted a major military defeat on
the British.   Superior firepower eventually prevailed, however, as
it usually does, and Britain got most of the area under its thumb.
(Obligatory film content - get hold of the films "Zulu Dawn" and
"Zulu", in that order, to see good depiction of the two most important
battles of the war.)

The British had some serious conflicts with the Dutch settlers (known as Boers) 
that led to first large groups of Boers moving further inland to avoid 
British rule, and eventually to an outright war (the Boer War, in the early 
20th century).  Both sides behaved very poorly in this war, resulting in a 
great deal of animousity between the two white groups in South Africa.  
During this war, the German Kaiser repeatedly expressed his support for 
the Boers, partially due to supposed cultural similarities between the 
Germans and Dutch-descended Boers, partially because German policy was 
to tick off the British whenever possible.  The Boers held out hopes that 
the Germans would come to their aid, but the Germans never did much.  
Meanwhile, the blacks were still being oppressed, by both white groups.
(More obligatory film content - "Young Winston" deals partially with
Winston Churchill's involvement in the Boer war, as a young officer/
correspondent.)

The British won the war, and South Africa remained a British colony, though
I believe the majority of the white residents were Boers.  The Boers 
resented British rule greatly.  Eventually, South Africa became a Commonwealth
nation, with some (but not complete) autonomy.  During WWII, there was some
support for the Germans among the Boers, due again to cultural ties and
mutual hatred for the British.  The additional racist element of Nazism
probably played pretty well among the more right-wing Boers, too.  After
the war, South Africa received its independence and promptly elected a
government that was supported largely by the Boers, and implemented the
policies they favored.  This government institutionalized the racist policies 
the British government had customarily followed, and made them worse.  South 
Africa is just beginning, in the past couple of years, to recognize that 
a minority of racists cannot oppress the majority forever.

>  A must see movie.  Throughly disturbing.

I liked "The Power of One" quite a lot, but there is a caveat - like
other recent movies about South Africa, including "Cry Freedom",
"A World Apart", and "A Dry White Season", "The Power of One" looks at
the conflict through white eyes.  Let's face it, relatively speaking
even the most liberal and politically engaged whites in South Africa have 
suffered far less than even the most compliant and peaceful blacks.  It's
unfortunate that filmmakers seem to feel that the American public will
only appreciate the troubles of South Africa if there is a white person
at the center of the film.  It's akin to films about the American civil
rights movement that concentrate on whites' contributions.  "The Power of
One" does make efforts to make clear that it's not about a white man
granting freedom through his sacrifices and efforts, but he's still there
at the center of the film.  One of the few films about South Africa that
doesn't suffer from this flaw is "Cry the Beloved Country" (and its musical
version, "Lost in the Stars").  Whoopi Goldberg is currently involved in
the shooting of a film based on an all-black South African musical, whose
title I cannot come close to spelling correctly.  "Gandhi" also is fairly
good, along these lines, with the early part of the film dealing with
South Africa.  (Indians living in South Africa received marginally
better treatment than blacks, though still far worse than whites.)

			Peter Reiher
			reiher@onyx.jpl.nasa.gov
			. . . cit-vax!elroy!jato!jade!reiher
Newsgroups: rec.arts.movies