Rosenstone on film, Rosenstone on history: An African perspective

Abstract

Rosenstone's work has been central to the growth of film and history studies in South Africa. It is argued that for some African history films, useful gradations can be made within and between Rosenstone's categories of ‘mainstream’ (Hollywood) or ‘innovative’ (self-consciously oppositional to Hollywood) dramas. To this end, films like Lumumba, Hotel Rwanda, Blood Diamond and Red Dust are explored in terms of differing production values, editing styles, political tone, use of language, casting policies and choice of protagonists. Rosenstone's insights into the nature of history on film suggest why such history might sometimes offer more acceptable visions of the past than historiography for students of history in highly divided societies like South Africa.