The black-and-white circa 1943 film from the Apartheid era, “Know Your Commonwealth South Africa” compiled material shot for the South African Bureau of Information to take viewers to African nation. It of course is a colonial film at its core, and ignores the racial problems that haunted the nation. Farmers are shown in fields as we’re given a brief history of how the Dutch Trading Company came to South Africa more than 300 years ago, later joined by the British. It is a land of contrast, as a native Bantu is shown on horseback while men and women jump onto buses in bustling cities. African women are shown working in fields at mark 03:00 while African men are shown studying agriculture in college “to become scientific farmers.” The idyllic lifestyle was changed in September 1939 with the start of World War II (mark 04:15), and we see South African Prime Minister Jan Smuts meeting with his cabinet to discuss a declaration of war against the Axis powers. There are scenes of South African troops in formation and at sea (mark 05:04). With help from Britain’s Royal Air Force, South Africa was able to train pilots (mark 05:38) while native Africans are taught how to drive to assist in the war effort. We learn how Dutch and British South Africans fought side by side “to drive the Facists out of Abyssinia” and at mark 08:30 see South African Major General Dan Pienaar present a commendation to s soldier his service in the South African campaign. (Pienaar was killed in a 1942 air crash). The film tells of advancements in industry and how blacks and whites, men and women, have all learned to work together. As the war continues, so does work in fields (mark 10:30) as workers are shown going about their daily routines to supply produce to families and servicemen. The narrator echoes the words of General Smuts at mark 13:15 noting that a debt is owed to the principles which helped South African gain its own freedom.

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