So, I went to the cinema last night (no fears, I'm not about to spill my daily life out on pF...) to watch the newly released film "Der Vermessene Mensch" (here's a link to the film's webpage with a short trailer) on the atrocious treatment of the Nama and Herero peoples of what was then German South-West Africa.
The film itself was ... well, very German, but what it did do well was to illustrate the background to that first genocide of the 20th century - in which 25,000 - 100,000 Africans died -, the execution of it, the mindset of the German colonisers, and it is also the first film I've seen which depicts the German Schutztruppe really well.
This is small wonder, as the historical and military advisor was none other than Harry Fakner, who used to collect German Colonial uniforms, many of which are shown in this "Verlag Militaria" book:
Conclusion: As a feature film it's not that great, but as a history lesson on a long-forgotten aspect of colonialism it's very good, and as a source for modelling Schutztruppe soldiers in the field it's excellent.
Karl
PS: There's a rather good film review in the Guardian here, BTW.
The film itself was ... well, very German, but what it did do well was to illustrate the background to that first genocide of the 20th century - in which 25,000 - 100,000 Africans died -, the execution of it, the mindset of the German colonisers, and it is also the first film I've seen which depicts the German Schutztruppe really well.
This is small wonder, as the historical and military advisor was none other than Harry Fakner, who used to collect German Colonial uniforms, many of which are shown in this "Verlag Militaria" book:
Conclusion: As a feature film it's not that great, but as a history lesson on a long-forgotten aspect of colonialism it's very good, and as a source for modelling Schutztruppe soldiers in the field it's excellent.
Karl
PS: There's a rather good film review in the Guardian here, BTW.
