Educational Media Reviews Online

White City, Black Lives, is an interesting, unusual and highly evocative account of the everyday life of the residents of the Soweto neighborhood formerly called Jabavu, now known as White City. Several residents were taught how to use video cameras and were asked to use the camera to tell the lives of ordinary people. They were asked to give as accurate an account as possible with the goal of demystifying outsiders' perceptions of township life. The result is intriguing in that, while filming independently of each other, the final montage represents overwhelming consistency and commonality in their lives and thoughts.

"Prince" is an opera-loving, unemployed ex-convict who suffers from arthritis and who believes that his neighbors distrust him, not because of his past, but because of his impoverished present. He used his camera to describe how unemployment and consequent poverty and drugs leads so many into crime.

Ntombi is an articulate high-school graduate living at home and caring for her extended family. She commented that her camera allowed her to speak in ways she would have been reluctant to, otherwise. She used it to comment on the common problems and complaints of township women -- most single parents and unemployed.

Robbie, an unemployed father with grand hopes for the future, used his camera to capture the "successful" in Jabavu-- those with more elaborate homes, indoor plumbing, electronic equipment, etc. He wanted desperately for people to know that not everyone "was a failure".

Lindiwe, was in many ways, the saddest of the group. A very young single mother, with no income and suffering from excruciating boredom, she filmed herself and her teenage girlfriends dancing and singing and looking desperately for fun.

Each of the amateur filmmakers had identical hopes and dreams for a solid, strong, "normal" family life. Each commented on their personal heartache over their wasted lives, and each, in spite of the odds, had expectations that things would work out well for them. Gender hostility was evident among all. The women were unilateral in their portrayal of men as irresponsible; men felt women has no respect for them because of their poverty, not their behavior.

The video is successful because of its home-made, personal and even intrusive feel. It was produced to be shown on South African television, but would be a very useful tool in South African classrooms as a lead-in to discussions on topics of broad social concern. Its utility as a teaching aid in the United States, however, would probably be limited.