I completely understand why Ade goes in to Orania with the ideas he has, I share them tbh but this 'documentary' did nothing to actually hear the other perspective: I didn't learn anything that I didn't already know.
A good documentary needs to be led by someone who can get the interviewees to be honest and open so we can hear their opinions. Ade does what many ordinary people would do and gets (completely understandably) angry and descends into arguing so that in the end, everyone else pulls out of interviews and he's not able to speak to the people he'd planned eg the pastor. Even during the final interview, Ade spoke more than the former mayor and grandson of the architect of Apartheid - I'd have loved to hear what he actually had to say; not because I in any way would ever agree with his opinions but ultimately to understand how they justify this extreme racial segregation to others, his thoughts on his grandfather and apartheid in general and why he believes so strongly in Orania. We really got none of that.
As a POC myself, I wouldn't set foot in a place like this and you can tell that Ade is uncomfortable. I've been to South Africa a few times too and many of the local white people (who don't initially seem like racists on the surface) explained to me (I'm white-passing which I think encouraged them to be open with me) that they view the South African black population differently (worse) when comparing to black people from anywhere else. I viewed it as a means to justify racism against black South Africans whilst being respectful to black people from other parts of the world. It's also a way to say that if you're not from South Africa, you don't know what black South Africans are truly like so of course to you the system there looks strange (it's almost a form of gaslighting). Everywhere I've been in South Africa too is extremely hierarchical with the remnants of the terrible apartheid regime apparent to anyone who looks: every menial job is done by a black person, they're called "boy" when being summoned, white peoples live in gated communities (not very different at all from Orania except in some ways worse because they're on the edge of townships in dire poverty and black people are allowed in to work) in luxury whilst employing full time black nannies, maids, gardeners, even builders! White South Africans for the most part are extremely wealthy whilst black South Africans are some of the poorest people in the world. The whites blame crime on the blacks just because they are black and don't take into account the violent separatist history, the link between poverty and lower socio-economic backgrounds and crime etc. It's all oversimplified to "black South Africans are violent criminals"
I don't think Ade picks up on any of this history: that he would be treated better than a local, that whites really believe they are an oppressed minority, that small versions of Orania exist throughout South Africa etc. I'd also love to hear how they talk about not employing black people for "housework" the way many other white South Africans do; he only touched on this once and briefly.
Despite the fact that he's a non-south African black man, I can't help but feel that even choosing him do this documentary was deliberately done to provoke and make a point vs. Any desire to actually investigate and find out their reasons. If you watch the argument between Ade and Marly's husband (I've forgotten his name), Ade is so triggered by him bringing up BLM that he doesn't understand (or even try to) the point he's trying to make about the need for more than just the democratic process if you are a political minority and whilst I don't agree with his point at all I still want to hear it! I think with any sort of extremism, it's very important to understand their views and opinions or how can we adequately counter them? How can we educate our youth to ensure we don't continue to pass these opinions down?
When he's interviewing one of the founder's sons, he again asks deliberately provocative questions about his knowledge of apartheid and Nelson Mandela, whether he'd date a black person etc. We know what he'll say to these questions if he felt he could be honest; they don't need to be asked. He's an 18 year old who will likely end up running the town at some point. I'd much rather hear about why he believes Orania is necessary, how is it different from any other gated community across the country, what his goals are, where he sees the town heading and what he wants to do to get it there? Another real missed opportunity because the youth are usually so much more progressive so understanding how they halt that, would have been very interesting.
It's a similar story when he goes to the school. We see a racist play and learn that a couple of the kids want to go into business in Orania. He asks another deliberately provocative question about getting a local (black) teacher in to teach tribal African languages. I wanted to hear more about how they teach the history of Apartheid, what other subjects do they do, how does the model of putting responsibility for their learning onto the children themselves actually work? It sounds like not much of an education is actually being given so I'd want to know more about this. This town is full of people with the same narrow view of life who will grow up and live and work in the same town all of their lives. Arguably, the school and the church must play key roles in indoctrinating them so they believe in the same cause as the generations before them and they not only want to stay in Orania but want to make it bigger and more powerful. How does that come about? What happens to people who don't believe in the vision?
If you look at great documentarians who have covered controversial subjects the approach is to probe and then remain relatively silent so that people share their own (often wild) beliefs. Look at Louis Theroux with the Baptist church or white supremacists: he managed to get them to talk very openly about their opinions and it was a fascinating window into the minds of people with deep-rooted prejudices, strongly held non-mainstream beliefs etc overarched by the almost chronic paranoia that they are a minority under threat. I'd have loved to find out more about Orania from a similar viewpoint instead of ultimately watching a few arguments, residents who'd been burned before being very guarded and seeing around some of the houses!
A good documentary needs to be led by someone who can get the interviewees to be honest and open so we can hear their opinions. Ade does what many ordinary people would do and gets (completely understandably) angry and descends into arguing so that in the end, everyone else pulls out of interviews and he's not able to speak to the people he'd planned eg the pastor. Even during the final interview, Ade spoke more than the former mayor and grandson of the architect of Apartheid - I'd have loved to hear what he actually had to say; not because I in any way would ever agree with his opinions but ultimately to understand how they justify this extreme racial segregation to others, his thoughts on his grandfather and apartheid in general and why he believes so strongly in Orania. We really got none of that.
As a POC myself, I wouldn't set foot in a place like this and you can tell that Ade is uncomfortable. I've been to South Africa a few times too and many of the local white people (who don't initially seem like racists on the surface) explained to me (I'm white-passing which I think encouraged them to be open with me) that they view the South African black population differently (worse) when comparing to black people from anywhere else. I viewed it as a means to justify racism against black South Africans whilst being respectful to black people from other parts of the world. It's also a way to say that if you're not from South Africa, you don't know what black South Africans are truly like so of course to you the system there looks strange (it's almost a form of gaslighting). Everywhere I've been in South Africa too is extremely hierarchical with the remnants of the terrible apartheid regime apparent to anyone who looks: every menial job is done by a black person, they're called "boy" when being summoned, white peoples live in gated communities (not very different at all from Orania except in some ways worse because they're on the edge of townships in dire poverty and black people are allowed in to work) in luxury whilst employing full time black nannies, maids, gardeners, even builders! White South Africans for the most part are extremely wealthy whilst black South Africans are some of the poorest people in the world. The whites blame crime on the blacks just because they are black and don't take into account the violent separatist history, the link between poverty and lower socio-economic backgrounds and crime etc. It's all oversimplified to "black South Africans are violent criminals"
I don't think Ade picks up on any of this history: that he would be treated better than a local, that whites really believe they are an oppressed minority, that small versions of Orania exist throughout South Africa etc. I'd also love to hear how they talk about not employing black people for "housework" the way many other white South Africans do; he only touched on this once and briefly.
Despite the fact that he's a non-south African black man, I can't help but feel that even choosing him do this documentary was deliberately done to provoke and make a point vs. Any desire to actually investigate and find out their reasons. If you watch the argument between Ade and Marly's husband (I've forgotten his name), Ade is so triggered by him bringing up BLM that he doesn't understand (or even try to) the point he's trying to make about the need for more than just the democratic process if you are a political minority and whilst I don't agree with his point at all I still want to hear it! I think with any sort of extremism, it's very important to understand their views and opinions or how can we adequately counter them? How can we educate our youth to ensure we don't continue to pass these opinions down?
When he's interviewing one of the founder's sons, he again asks deliberately provocative questions about his knowledge of apartheid and Nelson Mandela, whether he'd date a black person etc. We know what he'll say to these questions if he felt he could be honest; they don't need to be asked. He's an 18 year old who will likely end up running the town at some point. I'd much rather hear about why he believes Orania is necessary, how is it different from any other gated community across the country, what his goals are, where he sees the town heading and what he wants to do to get it there? Another real missed opportunity because the youth are usually so much more progressive so understanding how they halt that, would have been very interesting.
It's a similar story when he goes to the school. We see a racist play and learn that a couple of the kids want to go into business in Orania. He asks another deliberately provocative question about getting a local (black) teacher in to teach tribal African languages. I wanted to hear more about how they teach the history of Apartheid, what other subjects do they do, how does the model of putting responsibility for their learning onto the children themselves actually work? It sounds like not much of an education is actually being given so I'd want to know more about this. This town is full of people with the same narrow view of life who will grow up and live and work in the same town all of their lives. Arguably, the school and the church must play key roles in indoctrinating them so they believe in the same cause as the generations before them and they not only want to stay in Orania but want to make it bigger and more powerful. How does that come about? What happens to people who don't believe in the vision?
If you look at great documentarians who have covered controversial subjects the approach is to probe and then remain relatively silent so that people share their own (often wild) beliefs. Look at Louis Theroux with the Baptist church or white supremacists: he managed to get them to talk very openly about their opinions and it was a fascinating window into the minds of people with deep-rooted prejudices, strongly held non-mainstream beliefs etc overarched by the almost chronic paranoia that they are a minority under threat. I'd have loved to find out more about Orania from a similar viewpoint instead of ultimately watching a few arguments, residents who'd been burned before being very guarded and seeing around some of the houses!
