Educational Media Reviews Online

Regopstaan's Dream is a complex production. Using interviews against a stunning backdrop of South African scenery, the producers present the self-reported story of the San Bushmen's struggles to reclaim ancestral lands in Kalahari Gemsbok National Park, preserve the knowledge of their culture, and raise their families as traditional Bushmen. This film also reveals the issues that complicate the realization of that dream.

According to the San, they were displaced from their homeland under South African apartheid to facilitate the governmental establishment of Kalahari Gemsbok National Park. This displacement left the San who are hunters by tradition, without a natural means of survival. However, the creation of the reserve protects animals and vegetation natural to the area which in turn boosts tourism to South Africa. To partially redress past wrongs, the post-apartheid South African land restitution program gives displaced groups the opportunity to seek restoration of ancestral lands. Part of Regopstaan's dream is to be successful in making use of this program to have San homelands restored.

Regopstaan's Dream opens with scenes from inside the Africa [sic] Museum in Cape Town, South Africa. A museum guest in response to the interviewer's query states that he has brought his family to the museum so that they can learn about their history. The viewer is shown several exhibits that reconstruct San ancestry as could be seen by any museum guest. These realistic exhibits are troubling as is noted by Andor Skotnes in the Radical Historians Newsletter (http://chnm.gmu.edu/rhr/skotnes.htm), and controversial enough to be removed from the public exhibit as of May 2001 according to the museum's own website. (http://www.museums.org.za/). The controversial issues are out of the purview of this review but are worth study. Early scenes in the film include archival film footage of Bushmen, which makes one question whether this is yet another exploitive film produced under the guise of history or travel. As it turns out, the oral recollection of San history as told by Bushman Dawid Kruiper and others drives the production and the film is both artfully and tastefully produced. Inclusion of the museum exhibit, though controversial, supports the retelling of the San story.

The companion story within this film concerns its production as well as political South Africa. In relating it, several questions surface. What are the difficulties in attempting to communicate the history of a culture unlike your own? What secondary messages are conveyed in this production? What challenges does South Africa face in restoring ancestral lands to the San, even as profit is made from their displacement? These are some of the questions inspired by viewings of Regopstaan's Dream. The film reveals that the San are encouraged to make a living by providing "tribal" entertainment for tourist. In fact, some San descendants are dismissed from employment in tourism because they refuse to behave "Bushmen" enough. On another note, it is troublesome that Bushmen are filmed traipsing through high grasslands, all the while in western garb. This scene, as well as another in which the San are dutifully singing western hymns in church, seem contrived and out of sync with the production's theme.

In the end, the viewer might also question how heartfelt the San dream really is. While seeking to return to a traditional Bushmen lifestyle, it seems that the San increasingly embrace westernism. All of these concerns make for a very provocative film.

This engaging and complex production could easily benefit from multiple showings. Although lengthy (52 min), it could serve as an effective trigger film to promote further discussion and research into the issues presented. A Bullfrog 2000 release (24 minutes) under the same title seems to take up the story where the First Run release leaves off by documenting the grant of homelands to the San. Regopstaan's Dream contributes to an understanding of South African ethnic history and ethnographic study in general. This title would be an excellent addition to special, public and academic library collections.

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