BOERE OP DIE AARDSDREMPEL
(THE BOERS AT THE END OF THE WORLD)
DIRECTOR: Richard Finn Gregory
CAST: Theuns “Ty” Dickason, Ruben Dickason, Cecil Dickason, Juan Schlebusch
CLASSIFICATION: 7-9PG L
RUNNING TIME: 83 minutes
RATING: 4 stars (out of 5)
Theresa Smith
EVOCATIVELY named, this meticulously constructed documentary makes for fascinating, if wistful viewing. It charts the story of a group of Afrikaners who left the country and settled in Patagonia a century ago. It concentrates on their descendants as opposed to telling just the origins story.
The 100-year-old community of Afrikaans speakers is slowly diminishing as the third and fourth generations marry into the Spanish-speaking Patagonian community, but they aren’t particularly bitter about it – rather sad, but not angry. Members of the older generations charmingly identify themselves as African, while the younger ones see themselves as Patagonian, but there is no recrimination or animosity around the changing cultures between the generations.
Director and cinematographer, Richard Finn Gregory, never appears in front of the camera, always the silent witness to the interviews and his beautiful wide shots of the dry Patagonian countryside bear a striking resemblance to Karoo-scapes.
He interviews several people and then follows one family in particular as they contact their South African cousins, eventually travelling around our country. Marvelling at how clean South Africa is and how good their family’s lives are here, Ty Dickason nevertheless is happy to return home to Patagonia because that is where his family is.
We also meet various people who speak Afrikaans to varying degrees of proficiency, which fascinates a visiting linguistics professor, Andries Coetzee, from the University of Michigan, no end. He travels to Patagonia with two assistants with the express purpose of recording their language skills to research how linguistic drift of South African Afrikaans speakers compares to what they speak in Patagonia, which is closer to Afrikaans from 100 years ago.
The film deserves its Safta nominations for cinematography, sound design and editing. The soundtrack features various people singing and playing instruments as they show off the liedjies they were taught as children, but the film isn’t afraid of silent stretches either which allow the pin-sharp natural sounds to lull you into familiarity with the scene.
The sharp editing creates a narrative that is furthered by each talking head shot and each silent walk across a deserted farm which creates the impression of what Afrikaners without the baggage of apartheid could be like. The documentary is a thoughtful portrait of a dying cultural grouping lamenting its loss even as the people embraces the change.
If you liked Beats of the Antonov, you will like this.
Boere op die Aardsdrempel will show at the following cinemas and also releases on dvd on Tuesday: Gauteng: The Bioscope Independent Cinema in Joburg from today to Thursday; and Capitol Cinemas in Pretoria on April 8; Western Cape: The Labia from today to Thursday: The Showroom Theatre in Prince Albert on March 31 and April 2; Cinemuse in Stellenbosch on April 7; KZN: Victorian Theatres in Newcastle from today to Thursday.