Nick Broomfield - His Big White Self Revisited

I remember watching the original on tv and just wanted to re-visit. Amazing how people then build a fantasy world to keep it so.

As a Nick Broomfield fan, I was disappointed to find 'His Big White Self' a very poor follow up, giving no further insight into Terreblanche, which is not surprising as he's hardly in it. The result is a very lazy documentary consisting of a few on-camera chats about the current domestic arrangements of the other 2 title characters from the 1991 doc, padded out with clips from the 'The Leader...' Expect to be told nothing about modern day South Africa or the AWB, though there are some excellent archive clips from South African TV (hence the 2 stars). The commissioning editors at More4 must have felt pretty cheated, you'll certainly feel that way.

I seem to have missed something that has obviously struck a chord with the other rreviewers here...

Whilst this documentary is still essential viewing i don't believe it deserves a five star rating.

I believe the follow up documentary is excellent and JP is an extremely fascinating (and strangely, likeable character - he wouldn't like me though).

I do feel however that the original documentary is lacking somewhat - Broomfield never really manages to gain any understanding or information from Terreblanche himself - whilst it might make good tv making somebody so furious they won't listen to let alone answer questions - I was left feeling it would have been better if he had actually turned up on time for the interview which he had spent several weeks chasing rather than merely antagonising his subject. (Is it because of the current view we have of journalism that i found myself agreeing with almost everything terreblanche said about their apparent rudeness - he's not an easy man to agree with and maybe i just missed the point)

Terreblanche (and especially JP) are/were fascinating subjects and the moments when they display their true feelings are more than half the battle - if a documentary maker becomes the star or turns the focus of their film onto their subjects relationship with them then I can't help feeling it detracts attention from the resulting film - maybe i made the mistake of watching the latter first but the original simply did not live up to my hopes or expectations.

Nick Broomfield impresses again. An object lesson in how far you can push things with a subject by a careful building of rapport, however obnoxious your quarry may be. There can be few interviewees more tricky to handle than ETB - but as ever Nick probed with a mixture of studied naivete (a la Louis Theroux) & sensitivity. Masterful stuff.

In short, this film is simply superb. It is documnetary film-making at its absolute best. The subjects are fascinating, complicated and engaging. The subject matter is compelling and interesting and the film is shot brilliantly. Nick Broomfield gets right up close and personal to the leader and provokes him in a way you would if poking a cobra right in the face. I loved this film and think it is possibly Broomfileds stand out film, see it and see what I mean.