https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UNizgMOnDSc
Trailer for documentary “Blood and Fire.” Documentary discussing Xenophobia in South Africa using the case study of Mozambique native Ernesto Nyamuave.
The documentary following Mozambique national Ernesto Nyamuave and his family ends in tragedy. Ernesto was involved in the peak of xenophobic attacks in 2008 and was burned to death by South African citizens. After being attacked and murdered producers took up his story along with other migrants struggles in South Africa in an attempt to reveal how prevalent xenophobia is in Africa after the end of the apartheid. The film was released five years after the event of Ernesto’s death in an attempt to show how xenophobia in South Africa died down, the conclusion reveals that the fear of migrants has not decreased and continues to be a major factor in the country.
Migrants driven to South Africa in hopes of a better life and economic opportunity were allowed to enter the country on visa’s by the government but ostracized and attacked by citizens. Xenophobia is the irrational and intense fear/hatred of people from other countries. Since race is hardly a factor in South African xenophobia, the film implies that the dislike comes from fear of losing jobs and the onslaught of poverty coming into the country. It also documents the often violent results of such fear.
The producers of this film, and the trailer shown above, wanted to make the world aware of issue which is plaguing their home. The film is rather hard to find and many debates of the issue don’t reference it. However, it received national media attention across South Africa when it was first released. The producers of the film have a bias which shows through in the video posted above. They are anti-xenophobic and promote traveling to different countries but stress the idea that your safety should be of paramount importance. What the film doesn’t consider is the socio-economic catalysts for xenophobic behavior but instead focuses on how xenophobia affects migrants on South Africa.
This film is a visual media combining a lot of examples of xenophobia that draw the viewers attention to the hatred the two groups, nationals and migrants, hold towards one another. There is a difference between reading about Ernesto, who was burned alive, and watching it happen. The producers wished to sensationalize and draw attention to xenophobic violence in South Africa and to make the issue stick in the minds of people across the world.
Erin Jones