Cinema
Winning a Continent
De Voortrekkers
Harold M. Shaw · 1916
Synopsis
In 1837, Boer settlers from the Cape plan to found a free republic in Natal. Their leader, Piet Retief, leads a delegation to the kraal of the Zulu king Dingaan, whom two renegade traders, Jenke and Janos, have already turned against them. Around him a young Boer, Jan Faber, and Sabuzu, a Zulu warrior converted to Christianity, cross paths. The film follows the Great Trek, its wagons and its crowds of extras, black and white, and presents it from a perspective shared by the British and the Afrikaners.
Context
The film was premiered at Krugersdorp on 14 December 1916, two days before the anniversary of the Battle of Blood River, from a screenplay by the historian Gustav Preller. Its intertitles appear in English and Afrikaans, side by side, and an abridged version of about 54 minutes circulated abroad under the title Winning a Continent. The press stressed the number of extras, many of them miners. Showing Black people as savages stirred up by traders, it was revered by Afrikaners and screened in schools for decades.
Who it is for
Silent black-and-white film, about two hours long in its full version, with English and Afrikaans intertitles; a shorter version circulates.
Prizes and reception
The country's first epic film and the oldest surviving South African feature film; a great success on its release in South Africa.