DEMOBILIZED IN EXILE
By
Shaka Jamal Redmond
CINE 724
Film Theory I
Professor Aaron Kerner
Fall 2008
Olu8 Productions
510.912.2103
"…[I]t is only the story that can continue beyond the war and the warrior.
It is the story that outlives the sound of war-drums and the exploits of brave fighters.
It is the story...that saves our progeny from blundering like blind beggars
into the spikes of the cactus fence.
The story is our escort; without it, we are blind.
Does the blind man own his escort? No, neither do we the story;
rather it is the story that owns us and directs us."
--Chinua Achebe, Anthills of the Savannah (1987)
Thesis:
Throughout time, words of the storyteller have never lost their significance. The storyteller has remained important throughout history because s/he is the original artistic medium of memory that binds a people together; giving them an identity, a seed and root to sprout and grow from and express themselves, and simultaneously providing a distinctive purpose to a people to live out their destiny. Storytelling began as an oral tradition that was shared by friends and family around a fire, passed from one generation to the next. The strength of storytelling did not allow it to solely exist around the family fire. Throughout time, storytelling has carved its route through history by being exhibited and transformed into theater, fine art, paid public performances, written novels and even cinema. History remains significant and applicable to current and future generations through the artistic ritual and tradition of oral storytelling as revealed through cinema. The power of cinema as proclaimed by Ricciotto Canudo in1911, is that it has the ability to combine and express all artistic art forms into a narrative structure, therefore enriching history with a potent storytelling tool. Demobilized in Exile is significant and applicable to current and future generations, and is a modern example of storytelling as revealed through cinema.
Intro/Synopsis:
Demobilized In Exile is a short experimental docu-drama that examines the life of Oupa, a veteran soldier from the Pan African Congress’s (PAC) demobilized Azanian People’s Liberation Army of South Africa. The short opens in the midst of Oupa participating in a modern ancestral ritual. This scene provides the film’s foundation and gives perspective on Oupa’s current life experiences as an exile. He remembers both the long road he has traveled and those ancestors who have come before him. Soul stirring, apartheid struggle, storytelling and singing are employed utilizing memory, prose, song and modern day cinema, allowing us to discover aspects of Oupa’s humanity and perception through his culture and traditions he has held on to; even when separated from his homeland. Demobilized In Exile accounts for how Oupa’s memory of history is shaped by his culture and tribe as well as his political affiliation. These attributes uniquely provide Oupa a voice among South Africa’s many apartheid stories, even those akin to his.
Background:
Umkhonto we Sizwe (MK) is the most famous of South Africa’s Liberation Armed Forces, which was under the command of the African National Congress (ANC). A lesser known Force is the Azanian People’s Liberation Army (APLA) who were under the command of the Pan African Congress (PAC). These two forces, as well as others, battled South Africa’s brutal and inhuman apartheid system, which segregated and persecuted its citizens based upon the color of their skin and cultural heritage:
But our children have been born, with the whole of their generation, into the midst of the triumph of prejudice. Young Africans know from infancy upwards-and the point here is that they know nothing else-that their strivings after civilized values will not, in the present order, ever earn for them recognition as sane and responsible civilised beings.[1]
South Africans with European heritage, the smallest part of the population, were endowed with the richest of resources. Anyone else was forcibly compelled to receive less and were tortured further if they resisted. Since the more popular ANC won the first democratic election in South Africa in 1994 after years of apartheid, their policies and perspective, as well as their military wing during the apartheid struggle, undoubtedly came to the forefront of history, politics and the media. Behind the agenda of the ANC’s political machine, there lies hidden to the masses another perspective of true South African struggle and liberation. The ANC is known as not only the first, but also the most powerful negotiating force within South Africa’s apartheid liberation struggle. They were deemed the most powerful because they were willing to sit at the negotiating table with their oppressor while there were others within the liberation struggle who refused to negotiate and compromise when it came to their liberation. They were therefore at times shut out of the higher levels of the liberation struggle’s political process. Many of these people happened to be members of the PAC and struggled for their voice to be heard in the shadow of the ANC. The struggle for liberation’s voice still continues in South Africa and its Diaspora, even after the legal walls of apartheid have fallen.
A major task of the ANC has been determining how to integrate former liberation soldiers back into the framework of its society. These soldiers have sacrificed everything in order for their country to achieve freedom, and many feel they are owed a piece of the victory. The piece many of South Africa’s citizens and soldiers expected was limited. Veteran apartheid struggle soldiers were offered meager “readjustment” allowances and had the choice of entering the newly integrated South African National Defense Force (SANDF), politics, or becoming ordinary civilians. Many of the soldiers are still having a difficult time reintegrating themselves back into South African society:
Kingma argues that reintegration is not one general process, but consists of thousands of ‘micro-stories’, with individual and group efforts, and setbacks and successes. However, what became clear from the research was that successes could not be attributed to the demobilisation and reintegration process. Those who were living comfortably were able to do so because they took the opportunity to develop themselves while in exile. Those who are poor and destitute are former soldiers who thought that the end of apartheid would mean prosperity irrespective of their educational achievements and skill levels.[2]
Some of the soldiers never finished high school, or even junior high school, because of their induction into the apartheid liberation struggle. They therefore at times lack the skills necessary to hold skilled jobs. Some suffer form post-traumatic stress disorders that cause a milieu of social problems and sometimes leads to alcohol and drug abuse. The road Oupa has taken from active to demobilized soldier will be revealed in relation to his counterparts and the political platform of the PAC. Oupa will also reveal his thoughts on how the ANC is handling veterans of the apartheid struggle’s Liberation Armed Forces.
Goals and Stylistic Remnants of The Past:
The goal of Demobilized In Exile is to provide a theoretical, historical and character framework for a yet to be made historical fiction narrative. This short experimental docu-drama is but part and parcel of a larger project that will culminate as a feature film. In the process of writing the feature and molding the main characters’ identities, the research process must be documented and shaped into a cohesive and displayable format; not only to provide a foundation for the feature film, but also to give a unique cinematic perspective on the plight of South Africa’s veterans of the apartheid struggle.
Using elements of both traditional African oral storytelling and cinema’s classic narrative structure, Demobilized In Exile will investigate the effects war and exile have had on the unknown and sometimes forgotten South African apartheid liberation soldiers. The universal human need to find one’s purpose in life as well as Cinema Novo’s, “Aesthetics of Hunger” - the hunger for freedom - the hunger to resist what the oppressor dictates - a hunger that will choose death before it accepts a lifetime of slavery, will be illuminated by the journey in this story. Brazil has the largest population of Black people outside of Africa. Many of Africa’s customs, including the role of the storyteller, were not lost in the amoral transport of its citizens to far away lands. It is evident that Brazil’s Cinema Novo is the voice and story of not only its people, but many peoples around the world within Africa’s Diaspora:
The story itself is a primary form of the oral tradition, primary as a mode of conveying culture, experience, and values and as a means of transmitting knowledge, wisdom, feelings, and attitudes in oral societies.[3]
The blending of traditional African storytelling with the socio-political voice of film is crucial for the successful story development of the experimental docu-drama, as well as the feature it is building up to. Success is determined by whether or not the individuals of the culture being represented accept the film as representative of their voice and struggle.
While being respectful to the interest of those being represented, this writer would also like Demobilized In Exile, as well the feature it is birthing, to be unique in its presentation to the masses. In order to do this, the projects must flourish between the middle ground of the two Worlds of film. Third World Cinema’s determination for self-expression within colonialism and First World Cinema’s abundance of available resources is where I want the projects to assemble. In this middle ground, I believe the projects can truly be revealed through key essentials of The Italian Neo Realist Movement. This movement is characterized by the use of resources at hand to the best of ones ability in order to provide a unique experimental cinematic experience, “In fact, Italian neorealist cinema represents a hybrid of traditional and more experimental techniques.”[4] Ideologically, these are the characteristics of Italian Neorealism that one wants to integrate within a South African context and its relation to the rest of the world:
1. a new democratic spirit, with emphasis on the value of ordinary people
2. a compassionate point of view and a refusal to make facile moral judgments
3. a preoccupation with Italy's (South Africa’s) Fascist (Apartheid) past and its aftermath of wartime devastation
4. a blending of Christian and Marxist humanism (contemporary thought and Ubuntu’s humanism)
5. an emphasis on emotions rather than abstract ideas
Stylistically, Neorealism was:
1. an avoidance of neatly plotted stories in favor of loose, episodic structures that evolve organically (This technique will be emphasized in the short experimental docu-drama)
2. a documentary visual style
3. the use of actual locations--usually exteriors--rather than studio sites
4. the use of nonprofessional actors, even for principal roles (This technique will be emphasized in the short experimental docu-drama, principal roles will be reserved for trained actors in the narrative feature)
5. use of conversational speech, not literary dialogue
6. avoidance of artifice in editing, camerawork, and lighting in favor of a simple "style- less" style (only in some scenes)[5]
This style of filmmaking allows for a large range of freedom enabling dialogue to branch into unchartered territory. In terms of the narrative feature, this writer would like the main characters to be professional actors and have them supported by “real” people/non actors who will bring a grounded earthiness to the story. This process will give one time to plan, examine the voice, shooting style, facts, plot, narrative structure and work out logistical hurdles for the feature film. The plan is to use the same core crew for both projects compelling the crew to be accustomed to the shooting style and culture that is being represented. This process will also ensure that cast and investors will be made aware on the importance, power, and direction of the projects.
Demobilized In Exile is an experimental docu-drama in the sense that the film will show Oupa being interviewed, but in a non-traditional documentary way. Instead of a traditional talking head interview dominating the screen, the majority of the film will show Oupa being prompted to speak openly by real people in a way stories would traditionally be told in Africa; at night around a fire with food and drink. The film will use some talking head style interviews; both as a way of grounding the story and audience, while, also getting a more intimate aspect of Oupa’s personality and perspective. This process could be a seen as a merging of observational and performative modes of documentary. Here, the mixing of elements of various documentary modes depict everyday life to achieve the link between understanding of the audience’s world and that of the documentary, as explained by Bill Nichols in his book Introduction to Documentary. A South African co-director that speaks the many languages Oupa can express himself in will be incorporated into the filmmaking. Oupa will be able to speak freely in any way or language he chooses.
South Africans have an inclination to sometimes utilize three or more languages within one sentence to get their point across. Oupa will be teamed with a group of on screen people that have the ability to traverse and navigate freely his annals of history through speech and cultural recognition:
Eloquence and decorum measure “what works” and reflect the pragmatic, effect-or result-oriented nature of rhetoric itself…They can apply to any form of speech or voice that seeks to achieve results in a given context…Like the orator of old, the documentarian speaks to the issues of the day, proposing new directions. Judging previous ones, measuring the quality of lives and cultures…The voice of documentary testifies to its engagement with a social order and to its assessment of those values that underlie it. It is a specific orientation to the historical world that gives a documentary film a voice of its own.[6]