Just in Case You Needed a Context

[bcholmes]

I watched Red Dust, a 2004 film about the Truth and Reconciliation Commission in South Africa. It was an okay film, a bit less sensational than In My Country. But I found it slightly jarring to read the title cards at the beginning of the film.

The title cards explained recent history in South Africa. About apartheid. And the transition of power in South Africa. And I thought: I guess there are people who probably need this history. But, um, it was hard to quash a feeling I had that you'd have to be pretty out of touch to not have heard anything about it. I am aware of the problems with that feeling, but the feeling was there nonetheless.

Comments

[angilong.livejournal.com]

Yeah. My daughter did a report on South Africa for school a couple years ago (she had to choose a country, and she picked that one off the globe). Before that, she'd never heard of apartheid. Even afterwards, she didn't really understand it. But hey, she was only 7.