Production recently wrapped on the three-part historical documentary-drama Black, White and Khaki, which takes a look at the Second Anglo Boer War from the perspective of its unsung heroes.
Series director Robert Waldron says, “This certainly wasn’t a ‘white man’s war’ as the standpoint of the time tried to make it out to be…Without the participation, willingly or unwillingly, of tens of thousands of black, Indian and coloured South Africans in this war, it simply could not have been fought.” He says that people like Mohandas Ghandi carried stretchers for the British. Sol Plaatje, who was one of the founders of the ANC, was secretary to Baden-Powell during the siege of Mafeking. “These and other stories, which establish and recognise the invaluable role of blacks, coloureds and Indians in this war, are told in the new historical series.”
Produced by Gauteng-based Wild Dog Productions, the series remembers and recognises the more than 24 000 Black people who died in concentration camps – records that were only recently uncovered reveal that there were concentration camps for Black South Africans as well, and these records also give an idea of the numbers that suffered. “This war was a South African war, and all South Africans took part. There was much courage and suffering by the agter-ryers (support riders), guides, trackers, scouts, trench-diggers, stretcher bearers, blockhouse builders and more that shaped the outcome of the war. It’s time all South Africans were included, and took ownership of this war,” says Waldron.
The series shines a spotlight on other forgotten, often uncomfortable, and blatantly overlooked stories of the Anglo Boer War. “Approaching from a new perspective, it shows that this truly was a World War, with 29 nations involved. The New Zealand contingent brought with them Maori soldiers. The Australians brought Aboriginal trackers who were left behind. A group of volunteer Scandinavians helped to save the day at the battle of Magersfontein, and there were Irish brothers fighting each other on both sides,” explains Waldron. The French were present under Count Villebois Marieul, the Italians under the ostentatious leadership of Count Camillo Ricciardi, there were Canadians, a strong German and Netherlands contingent fighting for the Boers, even Russia was involved in a war that saw the largest overseas mobilisation of a British army in its history to that time. Shockingly, there were also women who took up arms and boys as young as twelve. “The series, by taking snapshots of the war, expands these parts into the whole, revealing the forgotten stories and people, and unearths the real structures of the war, and how it was fought.”
Waldron and his team, gaining permission from the MacGregor Museum for the Battle of Magersfontein, the Talana Museum for the Battle of Talana Hill, and the Battle of Spion Kop from Amafa KZN and Heritage KZN, were fortunate to film much of the series at many of the original battlefields, lending to the series a much preferred sense of verisimilitude that filmmakers strive for and audiences search for in period projects. “It was a moving experience to film on the actual battlefields,” says Waldron. “We felt honoured to pay homage this way to the fallen of both sides, and our actors felt it too.”
The making of Black, White and Khaki employed the services of three major re-enactment groups, The Dundee Diehards, the Bittereinder Kommando, and the Oranje Vrijstaat Artillerie Corps. “These guys were amazing. Period authentic gear and weapons, enthusiasm and passion for the subject second to none, in depth historical knowledge,” Waldron adds.
While it would be virtually impossible for the production to have harnessed the kind of representative numbers of the actual battles, to mimic these numbers the camera crew used up to five camera angles at a time, some with green screen, and Wild Dog’s 3D VFX expert Thelma Roos, multiplied the platoons or commandos where possible. As is to be expected with a project such as Black, White and Khaki, weaponry and artillery explosions were an extreme challenge which Wild Dog overcame by working with licensed blasters for actual dynamite and cordite work. “This was filmed with re-enactors under controlled conditions at a location in the Free State. Other explosions were added with controlled minor explosions and green screen backdrops, and in the VFX department,” explains Waldron. The series was shot in 4K, and downscaled to HD for broadcast, using up to five 4K cameras at one time.
In order to achieve the desired authenticity, period correct wardrobe was supervised, created and supplied by the production’s wardrobe expert Johan Wolfaardt. Twin Mosia, “a black re-enactor whose passion for unearthing the facts about the South African War is unbounded,” according to Waldron, assisted in giving perspective for the agter-ryers in the series. “Mosia managed to recruit some enthusiastic black students from Sol Plaatje University as agter-ryers and trench diggers, and the guys were bounding with enthusiasm and energy,” says Waldron. “We also tried to hire cast or extras from the local population in the areas we were shooting in, so that we would bring cash to that rural area, and get them involved in the story.”
The series is a wholly South African production, in part funded by a grant from the Department of Trade and Industry. Regarding distribution, Waldron says that Wild Dog Productions is currently in discussion with Channel 4 and BBC in the UK, “and locally with two channels I can’t name yet.” He adds that the series is for licencing and acquisitions, and will not be commissioned. “Licensing, rather than commissioning, is our primary business model – it produces a long slow buck, due to royalties and sale via various broadcast windows, rather than a more short lived fast buck of commissioning, plus you get to retain the rights…and of course, a three-part DVD will be available locally, and I will be giving a talking tour and screening, starting at Sol Plaatje,” he concludes.
