Ilha do Desterro: A Journal of English Language, Literatures in English and Cultural Studies E-ISSN: 2175-8026
[email protected] Universidade Federal de Santa Catarina Brasil Saks, Lucia A Tale of Two Nations: South Africa, De Voortrekkers and Come See the Bioscope Ilha do Desterro: A Journal of English Language, Literatures in English and Cultural Studies, núm. 61, julio-diciembre, 2011, pp. 137-187 Universidade Federal de Santa Catarina Florianópolis, Brasil Available in: http://www.redalyc.org/articulo.oa?id=478348699006 How to cite Complete issue Scientific Information System More information about this article Network of Scientific Journals from Latin America, the Caribbean, Spain and Portugal Journal's homepage in redalyc.org Non-profit academic project, developed under the open access initiative http://dx.doi.org/10.5007/2175-8026.2011n61p137 A TALE of Two Nations: South Africa, DE VOORTREKKERS AND COME SEE THE BIOSCOPE Lucia Saks University of Cape Town/University of Michigan Abstract: This paper examines two films, De Vootrekkers (1916) and Come See the Bioscope (1997), made at two moments of national crisis in South African history, the first at the beginning and the second at the end of the twentieth century. Both films speak to the historical moment of their production and offer very different visions of the nation and the necessity for reconciliation. Keywords: cinema, South Africa, national identity, post apartheid, reconciliation. (M)y knowledge of movies, pictures, or the idea of movie-making, was strongly linked to the identity of a nation. That’s why there is no French television, or Italian, or Brit- ish, or American television.