HIs Big White Self (UK, 2006, Director: Nick Broomfield, 94 minutes): I’m a bit sheepish to admit that this is the first Nick Broomfield documentary that I’ve seen. From what I’ve heard, Broomfield was one of the first documentary filmmakers to insert himself into the narrative, and like Michael Moore, he can sometimes be more of a distraction than necessary.
This film is a companion piece to his 1991 film The Leader, His Driver, and the Driver’s Wife, which was a portrait of South African white supremacist leader Eugene Terreblanche. It would be a good idea to see that film first, I think, since this film refers to many events from the earlier film. In the 1990s, after the collapse of apartheid, Terreblanche’s group, the Afrikaner Resistance Movement (the Afrikaans acronym is AWB), was responsible for a rash of bombings that killed several people. His followers also violently disrupted gatherings of the ANC and other political opponents, and eventually, Terreblanche faced prison time for some of these crimes (as well as for some more personal misdeeds, like assault and attempted murder). Ridiculously, he serves only three years in prison, and Broomfield returns in 2004 just as he is being released, hoping to interview him again.
As a side note, in the first film, he never sits for a formal interview and Broomfield is reduced to chasing him around trying to provoke confrontations. In the same vein, this time Terreblanche refuses to meet the film crew for an interview (and in fact is prohibited from conducting political interviews as part of his parole), so Broomfield ends up disguising himself and pretending to be seeking an interview regarding a book of poetry Terreblanche has coming out. While these scenes are both funny and tense, it means the “interview” itself is pretty devoid of meaningful statements from The Leader.
Most of the interesting interviews are with the Driver of the first film, J.P. Meyer. An affable man now into his sixties, J.P. seems to really like Broomfield. But just when the audience is warming to him, he spouts some racist nonsense. Men like Meyer are pitiable even in their hatred. Desperate to hold onto their white privilege, and cloaking it in religious language, they’re now growing old as bitter men.
Terreblanche is a fascinating character. A fiery orator who has based much of his movement and mannerisms on the German National Socialist (Nazi) Party, he constantly paints himself as a victim, and even though mellower now, is still convinced that his cause is right.
The film was hugely enjoyable but slighly flawed for two reasons. First, it really can’t be judged apart from the first film, which I haven’t seen (and which doesn’t appear to be widely available; it’s not even on DVD here in North America). Secondly, Broomfield’s discomfort is played mostly for laughs. The AWB at the zenith of its power had half a million members out of a white population of four million. Even with some of their cartoonish fascist posturing, they were a dangerous and violent group. Even though Broomfield speaks of receiving death threats after the first film, you don’t get the sense of danger in this one. Perhaps the AWB’s power really has disappeared. But when you see how little has changed in some parts of the countryside, you’re left feeling not so sure.
More on the film from England’s Channel 4
Transcript of a webchat conducted after the film aired on England’s Channel 4
(8/10)
Mmmmm not a bad review, I had a slightly different take on it however.
http://mhambi.blogspot.com/2006/04/his-big-white-self-nick-broomfield.html
While Eugene TerreBlanche could have once been considered a White supremacist it is important to note that he has since renounced this & to note that the crux of the AWB was to secure a White Afrikaans (mainly Boer but
Afrikaner as well) homeland -often advocated to be within the former Boer Republics[1] the British had conquered in 1902 after the British killed 27 000 Boer civilians[2] in the concentration camps- & not necessarily a White dominated dispensation or even a defense of Apartheid. Since as any honest researcher will find: the Boer tradition of declaring republics pre-dates the arrival of the British.[3] Therefore: the fact that there are Boers attempting to establish another republic must be viewed within the proper historical context.
The AWB in fact violently disrupted the political meetings of the National Party whom they viewed as a threat as much as the ANC.
While J P Meyer spouts racist nonsense: it is important to remember that it has got nothing whatsoever to do with being desperate “to hold onto their white privilege, and cloaking it in religious language” (which is absurd on its face since the Boer people had the LEAST amount of so called White privilege[4] compared to the Cape based Afrikaner & the affluent English speaker) as these are authentic religious beliefs that some of the more strict Calvinists have. It is a type of White Exceptionalism (despite the fact that the Boers & Afrikaners have partial Indian / Khoi & Malay origins) Not White Supremacist ideology: which is often a distinction too subtle for most Westerners to notice.
I question the notion that TerreBlanche “based much of his movement and mannerisms on the German National Socialist (Nazi) Party” since this would be illogical & is probably only an attempt at further sensationalizing a movement
that is extreme enough without embellishing.
The AWB NEVER had half a million members (hell: that’s more than half of the total republican descended Boer population where the AWB had its main support). The AWB never had a total membership of more than 70 000. Less than 3 % of the total White population.
Things have in fact changed a lot in the countryside as more then two thousand Boer farmers have been killed since 1991 in what Gregory Stanton: the President of Genocide Watch has stated constitutes a genocide[5] under the Genocide Convention.
Notes.
1. The AWB adopted the notion of restoring the former Boer Republics from the influence of Robert van Tonder who left the National Party back in 1961 -when South Africa itself became a republic- to advocate for the restoration of the former Boer Republics.
2. Most of the Boer civilians who died in the British concentrations camps were children under the age of sixteen. Close to half of the total Boer child population died in the concentration camps.
3. Professor Wallace Mills. White Settlers in South Africa to 1870.
4. The Boer people of the former Republics have been noted as the proto urban poor particularly after the Anglo-Boer War when many had to find work in the cities after the British burned down their homes & farms. Furthermore the Boers
have historically been poorer then the Cape Afrikaners & the main reason their ancestors trekked away form the Western Cape beginning in the late 1690s & throughout the 1700s was (aside from being independent oriented) because they were too poor to cope with colonial society
so they became nomadic pastoralists & adopted the ways of the Khoisan in order to survive. The so called White privilege any Boer had attained by the mid 20th cent often paled in comparison to other White groups.
5. Carte Blanche. Doc on the growing Boer genocide. Wherein Gregory Stanton the President of Genocide Watch notes that the killing of Boer farmers constitutes a genocide under the Genocide Convention.
Furthermore TerreBlanche does not have to “paint himself as a victim” as the Boers have historically been the victims of various forms of colonialism. First from Dutch colonialism then later more notably from British colonialism then later still from Afrikaner Nationalism -which was the Cape Afrikaners’ way of co-opting the Boer people & stealing their heritage which lead to the marginalization of the Boer people whom the most prominent mainstream right wing political leaders of the era: Western Cape born Andries Treurnicht of the Conservative Party & Jaap Marais of the HNP refused to recognize. While the tactics TerreBlanche & the AWB employed were wrong: his cause of Boer self determination is indeed right. Just as few would condone the tactics of ETA -but still find that their cause of Basque independence is just.
The power of the AWB has indeed collapsed & rightfully so as the Boer people were not being well served by them due to their extremism & confusion over whose freedom they were struggling for (ie: Boers vs the larger Afrikaners who were by & large not as interested in independence) & as pointed out in the previous post: they only ever had a very small membership. Robert van Tonder who founded the Boerestaat Party had been calling for the restoration of the former Boer Republics since 1961 & was much more focused on Boer self determination & not caught up in White racial sentiments of the AWB.
The Boer people have been colonized by both the British & the Afrikaners & have a legitimate & legal right to self determination. The two most well known Boer Republics were recognized by numerous European governments & the American government before they were conquered by the British. The Sand River Convention -which lead to the establishment of the Transvaal Republic- & the Orange River Convention -which lead to the establishment of the Orange Free State- were illegally overturned by the British when they conquered the said republics. There indeed are still many Boers -probably more so than ever due to the growing genocide against them- who still believe that the cause of Boer self determination is right.