TROUPES OF WAR - DITURUPA (F/F) (2017) 

Synopsis

How do you commemorate soldiers who died in wars perpetrated by their oppressors? Mudzingwa and Ledwaba correctly seek no easy answer to this complicated question. At its narrative core is the Ditrupa, a celebration of military history held in Markapanstad, rural North-West – a filtered-down appropriation of Scottish tradition brought back by black South African troops who served in the Great War. As well as covering black military history, the film provides a telling juxtaposition of black memory against white history. And in its portraiture of the craft and history of Diturupa, it needles in on an uncomfortable nostalgia that may be a basis of inquiry for future films on the subject. Worthwhile. Courtesy of the Directors