Welcome to our World! Where we serve you cookies to ensure you get the best viewing experience on our site.

Did you know that you can remove censorship board-wide, use our advanced search functions, be notified when new content is posted, join our memberships, set episodes to show in any order you want & more if you are logged into your account?

Register or sign in here: ucp.php?mode=register

Ernest Cole: Lost and Found (2024)

Curious minds want to know... Documentary Movie collection.
Watch Docus Amazon   Docus Merchandise

Documentary movie collection.

Ernest Cole: Lost and Found (2024)

Post by bunniefuu »

(dramatic music playing)

- (indistinct chatter)

- (pensive music playing)

(traffic rumbling)

(siren wailing in distance)

(somber music playing)

Narrator: "November 25th, 1968."

"To the Alien Commissioner,

Norwegian Government,

Oslo, Norway."

"Dear sir,

I was born on March 21, 1940,

at Pretoria, South Africa."

"I'm presently 28,

and unmarried."

"I am a stateless person

in political exile in

New York."

"I've been advised

that my passport

will not be renewed,

but that I could obtain

an emergency

travel certificate."

"I've been in the US

for the past 26 months,

and while this experience

has been insightful for me,

I cannot afford

to remain here much longer

since the nature of my work

requires me to travel."

"Without wishing to be negative

about life in this country,

it is quite evident to me

that it will be difficult

for me to work here

at this particular period

of my life."

"When I left home, I thought

I would focus my talent

- on other aspects of life..."

- (playful piano playing)

"...which I assumed

would be more helpful

- and with some joy to do."

- (indistinct chatter)

(glasses clinking)

Narrator: "However,

what I've seen in this country

over the past three years

has proved me wrong."

"Exposing the truth

at whatever cost is one thing,

but having to live a lifetime

of being the chronicler

of misery and injustice

- and callousness is another."

- (police siren wailing)

Narrator: "And such matter

is about the only assignments

magazines here

want to offer me..."

(footsteps shuffling)

"...because the subject matter

of my first book

happened to be centered

on race issues,

the color of my skin,

another incidental matter,

and the fact

that I endured and escaped

the living hell

that is South Africa."

- (Baby wailing)

- (Kids chattering, clamoring)

Narrator: "The total man

does not live one experience."

("Mill"

by Miriam Makeba playing)

(singing

in foreign language)

(singing continues)

(singing fades)

- (indistinct chatter)

- (Kids laugh)

- (music concludes)

- (birds chirping)

Well, it all started

at the end of 1956.

I had just finished

my second year in high school.

And instead of going further,

I decided to leave school

because the government

had deliberately lowered

the already low standard

of education for Africans,

with what they call

the introduction

of the Bantu Education Act.

So, I decided this was going

a little bit too far

and I left,

and decided to finish

my schooling by correspondence.

Then of course,

it took me a year...

before I could get a break...

as a darkroom assistant.

So, in about May 1958,

I got my first break

through a young

German photographer,

Jrgen Schadeberg,

on Drum magazine.

And...

because Drum

was in Johannesburg,

which is two and a half hours

away from my hometown,

I, you know, had to

read my lessons on the train.

- (papers shuffling)

- (school bell ringing)

- (indistinct chatter)

- (train tracks rattling)

- (crowd clamoring)

- (bicycle bell dinging)

Ernest: Later in 1959,

I saw my first

photographic book,

which is entitled

"People of Moscow"

by Cartier-Bresson.

So, then I decided,

"Well, this is the form

I wanted my work to take."

And slowly,

I started documenting,

you know, just to show what life

was really like in South Africa.

- (indistinct chatter)

- (crowd clamoring)

(train horn blaring)

(camera shutter clicking)

(train tracks rattling)

Ernest: I was of course aware

that after finishing it,

it wouldn't be possible

to remain in South Africa,

but then I...

you know, I didn't care

because this is a chance

you take,

and all of us have taken.

You don't want, you know,

to live under the...

those miserable conditions.

I've been banned in absentia,

but that doesn't matter.

It'll stand, I mean, you know,

in the future, because, uh...

I'm sure

South Africa will be free.

- (dramatic music playing)

- Reporter 1:

Demonstrations against

the South African government's

strict Apartheid policies.

At Sharpeville,

an industrial township,

thousands gather

outside a police station

in protest against new laws

requiring every African

to carry a pass at all time.

- (plane engine roaring)

- (Soldiers clamoring)

(crowd screaming, clamoring)

Reporter 2: (in French)

Reporter 3: (in English)

Sharpeville, police fired

into a crowd

of unarmed demonstrators,

k*lling 69,

including women and children.

Reporter 4: (in French)

Reporter 5: (in English)

Worldwide protests were raised,

including a condemnation

of the violence

by the United States

State Department.

(melancholic music playing)

UN Delegate:

Operative paragraph three

of Document S/5384

which reads as follows.

Three calls upon all states

to boycott

all South African goods

and to refrain

from exporting to South Africa

strategic materials

of direct military value

is now put to the vote.

Will those in favor

of that paragraph

please raise their hands?

Translator: (in French)

(council members muttering)

UN Delegate: (in English)

The result of the vote

is nine in favor,

none opposed,

and two abstentions.

The resolution, as amended,

has consequently been adopted

by the Security Council.

(jovial folk music playing)

Presenter:

The achievement in the towns,

new homes for over

a million people in 12 years.

Budget, 120 million pounds.

- (music concludes)

- (bulldozer engines rumbling)

(bricks crumbling)

Narrator: One morning, in 1960,

government bulldozers

came clanking down the road,

into the neighborhood

where I lived.

This was Eersterust,

a freehold township

ten miles past Pretoria.

Some would call it a slum,

but I loved Eersterust.

I had lived most of my 21 years

in that neighborhood.

(hammer clanking)

Narrator: My father,

a self-taught tailor,

and my mother, a washerwoman,

had raised their six children

in that house.

- (debris crashing)

- (bulldozer engines rumbling)

Narrator: Once the bulldozers

began their work,

they were quick about it.

Within minutes, the Black spot

had been eradicated.

(brooding music playing)

Narrator: In South Africa,

a "Black spot"

is an African township

marked for obliteration

because it occupies an area

into which

whites wish to expand.

- (Baby wailing)

- (Kids chattering)

Narrator: The government

describes relocation

as "slum clearance,"

and likes to brag

about its housing developments

as a humanitarian solution

to an acute housing shortage.

But the African knows,

he is only exchanging his slum

that was home

for the sterile prison

of a government ghetto.

(pensive music playing)

- (birds chirping)

- (indistinct chatter)

(bicycle bell dinging)

(bicycle bell dinging)

- (indistinct chatter)

- (traffic rumbling)

Narrator: The African

does not also have the right

to walk the city streets

of his country.

His presence

in the white urban areas

is tolerated

as long as he's doing

the required job.

At all other times,

he is a trespasser,

unless he has

his "reference book."

Without it,

a Black man is nothing.

He cannot get a job,

find housing, get married,

or even pick up

a parcel at the post office.

A man's pass

contains his life history

- in brief detail.

- (music concludes)

Narrator: It tells his name,

where he comes from,

which tribe he belongs to,

the place and date of his

birth,

and his father's birthplace.

The pass tells

whether he has paid his taxes

and indicates his grade

of employment,

"domestic servant,

laborer, student, clerk, etc."

The government

can pull a man's pass

at any time, for any reason,

or for no reason at all.

- (metal gate clanking)

- Narrator: This happens

thousands of times in a day,

and still,

it remains a spectacle.

(playful jazz music playing)

Narrator:

Like in an Afrikaans Rashomon,

these characters are locked

in their own narrative.

In this picture,

these three women

in the background

show passive curiosity,

or anxiety tinged with fear,

or downright panic.

The young boy behind

seems to be reasonably

reassured

that he is not to be

the victim.

The Black policeman

does his job by the book,

accurately and conscientiously.

There can be no objections

to his routine.

He has a uniform, an income,

a place in society,

more than any other fellow.

It is not clear from this photo

whether he was entrusted

with a g*n or not.

But g*n or no g*n,

he remains his master's man.

And then,

there's this

white-looking character

on the right.

Clearly passive,

not even curious.

He has nothing at stake here.

Both hands in his pocket.

He observes,

like he might observe

a lizard devouring a fly.

A day like any other day.

Same incident,

different realities.

- (van door opening)

- (tense music playing)

Narrator: Even in the court,

the African must wait.

But once his turn comes,

justice is swift.

(footsteps shuffling)

Narrator: The prisoners

are led into the courtroom

- in small groups...

- (door opening)

...and one at a time,

they are called forward.

(typewriters clacking)

Narrator:

One fine old British custom

survives in South Africa's

penal system,

- the whip.

- (whip cracking)

Narrator: In 1963,

according to records

meticulously kept,

83,206 lashes were meted out

to 17,404 prisoners.

- (pensive music playing)

- Narrator: House of Bondage.

I feel like I put my whole life

into creating that book.

I risked my life every day.

I had to learn

to sh**t at eye level.

(camera shutter clicking)

Narrator:

I had to sh**t while walking.

(camera shutter clicking)

Narrator:

It's a matter of survival.

To steal every moment.

But the monster

does not even need to hide.

He is on a mission.

(camera shutter clicking)

(camera reel clicking, whirring)

Narrator:

I am collecting evidence,

and sometimes,

the monster looks back at me.

Our policy is one,

which is called by

an Afrikaans word, "Apartheid."

And I'm afraid that has been

misunderstood so often.

It could just as easily

and perhaps,

much better be described

as a policy

of good neighborliness.

Accepting that there are

differences between people.

(bell tolling)

Reporter: Outside

the High Court in Pretoria,

sympathizers waited

for the verdict

on Black leader

Nelson Mandela.

Reporter:

Mandela had declared in court,

"I planned sabotage

because all lawful methods

of opposition were closed."

"I have cherished the ideal

of democratic society

with equal opportunity for all."

"That is an ideal," he said,

"for which I am prepared

to die."

(somber music playing)

Narrator:

South Africa is a land

of signs.

A total separation of

facilities on the basis

of race.

For every African, the signs,

oppressive, are always there.

(upbeat drums playing)

Narrator: Sometimes,

the sign says only, "Goods."

But if you are Black,

you know that elevator

is for you too.

The depravity of Apartheid,

a morbid system of separation.

- (pensive music playing)

- (birds chirping)

(water flowing)

- (cash register dings)

- (typewriters clacking)

(indistinct chatter)

Narrator: When I say

that people can be fired,

or arrested,

or abused, or whipped,

- or banished for trifles...

- (handcuffs clinking)

...I'm not describing

the exceptional case

for the sake

of being inflammatory.

Legal indignities

eventually become part

of the reality

of your existence.

Onerous, but unavoidable,

and in a way, tolerable,

like a bad climate.

You may escape,

but you carry

your prison smell with you.

The white man's fear

of Blackness...

(cigarette sizzling)

...and whatever

it symbolizes for him,

goads him unmercifully.

His hatred erupts

on slight provocation.

One slip, one fancied slight,

one ill-considered act

or hasty word,

and he is upon you,

an enemy ablaze with rage

and emboldened by his immunity.

All Blacks have seen

white men and women thus.

All have been tongue-lashed.

Perhaps not quite all

have been bullied,

threatened, shoved,

spat upon, slapped, or slugged.

There is no recourse.

(music concludes)

Radio presenter: (over radio)

The more you need Ajax,

the most powerful name

in cleaning!

- (birds chirping)

- (water rippling)

Narrator:

White homes are crucibles

of racism in South Africa.

Here, the races meet

face to face

- as master and servant.

- (somber music playing)

Narrator: All servants are Black

and all masters white.

- (bats clacking)

- (indistinct chatter)

Narrator: The typical pay

for a live-in servant

is 15 to 20 dollars a month,

plus bed and meals.

If you don't complain,

they think... you're happy.

If you do complain,

they think you're ungrateful.

- (Kids wailing, giggling)

- (indistinct chatter)

(tender music playing)

(children laughing)

Narrator: "I love this child,"

says the nanny,

"Though she'll grow up

to treat me

just like her mother does,

now, she is innocent."

(Babies giggling)

- (Babies crying)

- (indistinct chatter)

Presenter:

This leaflet has been prepared

by the Non-European

Affairs Department

in the hope that it will assist

European employers

in their day-to-day dealings

with their Bantu servants.

One of the most

popular fallacies prevailing

amongst South Africans is that,

"I know the Bantu

and how to treat him."

For this reason,

it is earnestly hoped

that this little booklet

will prove of some value

- to the public.

- (menacing music playing)

Narrator: The manual says

to speak to the servant

- in a language they

understand.

- (camera shutter clicking)

Narrator: And try to remember

that they are human.

- (whimsical music playing)

- (dog yaps)

(dog pants, barks)

(dog whines, barks)

- (music concludes)

- (dog whimpers)

(indistinct chatter)

Narrator: A few white policemen

decided that the world

was normal.

- Just a man and a woman.

- (child yelling)

- (Resident laughing)

- Narrator: More, if compatible.

Human again.

Even for a brief moment.

Does the woman have a choice?

("Kitty's Blues"

by Dolly Rathebe playing)

(singing in foreign

language)

(Kids chattering)

Narrator:

How do you keep your humanity

in the face of all this?

It's not a question.

It's an observation.

(Kids yelling, clamoring)

Narrator:

I am trying to find sense

where there ain't any.

As close to reality

as possible.

Find an immediate connection

to life and its contradictions.

(Kids chattering, laughing)

Narrator: A link

which I can't afford to lose.

But I can't find anything

that justifies all this.

(machines whirring)

Narrator: South Africa's wealth

is rooted firmly

in great mineral resources.

- Diamonds, platinum, iron...

- (metal clanging)

- ...copper, uranium...

- (indistinct chatter)

...and above all, gold.

- (machines humming)

- (tools clanking)

Narrator: These mines produce

about 70 percent

of all the free world supply

of gold.

The brute work is done

by Africans.

Recruits from all points

are brought to the tremendous

Witwatersrand Native Labor

Association

main depot in Johannesburg.

Here, they are processed

and assigned to the mines,

where they will work

for the duration

of their contract.

- (birds chirping)

- (indistinct chatter)

Narrator: One will tell you,

"I'll be going home

when the drought ends."

(train tracks rattling)

Narrator: But it never does.

- And life in the mines

goes on.

- (train engine hissing)

(pensive music playing)

(stamp clacking)

- (music concludes)

- (bell ringing)

Narrator:

The scale of payment is frugal.

For losing two legs

above the knee,

and thus his livelihood,

one fellow I saw,

received 1,036 dollars,

which was being paid out

at the rate of eight dollars

and 40 cents a month,

and was supposed to last him

for the rest of his life.

(funky jazz music playing)

Narrator:

Your own people are nothing.

The strong father,

the harboring mother,

the blood brother, nothing.

The loyalty of families,

nothing.

The allegiance of tribes,

nothing.

They are nothing.

You look vainly

for heroes to emulate.

Many already half believe

the white man's estimate

of their worthlessness.

- But inside, there is fire.

- (Residents shouting)

Narrator:

You rise in the morning,

filled with sour thoughts

of your poverty

under the white economy...

where parks are free

and benches available,

- you do not want them.

- (crowd clamoring)

Narrator:

Good food does not impress you.

Vacations are for fools.

You do not try too hard

or expect too much of yourself,

for it is still

a white man's world.

Your anger is unabated,

for each day's newly discovered

small liberties...

recall restrictions

in the past.

(gloomy jazz music playing)

- (indistinct chatter)

- (passing footsteps)

(crowd applauding)

- (bell ringing)

- (crowd cheering)

Narrator: And as we overcame

our deficiencies,

lost our political

and economic innocence,

- civilized our savage

nature...

- (instruments rattling)

...and worshiped

the white God...

we would earn

the white man's friendship

and approval.

Then would the best of us

would have a seat

in his councils

and the privilege of acting

like white men.

Yet, it has turned out...

that we studied

the white man's language

only to learn the terms

of our servitude.

Narrator: Three hundred years

of white supremacy

have placed us in bondage,

stripped us of dignity,

robbed us of self-esteem,

- and surrounded us with hate.

- (crowd clamoring)

(g*nshots firing)

The foreigners

who are operating businesses,

we need to regulate them.

- (glass shattering)

- (crowd shouting, clamoring)

(pensive music playing)

Narrator: The Native

Administration Act of 1927

empowers the government,

whenever it is deemed expedient

in the general public interest,

to move any individual African,

or an entire tribe

for that matter,

from any place

within South Africa

to any other place.

No prior notice is required

and no time limit set.

I was determined to visit

a banishment camp

and see for myself.

I made my trip in 1964.

I picked Frenchdale,

an isolated outpost

in the northern reaches

of Cape Province

near the border of Botswana.

(car engine rumbling)

Narrator: An acquaintance agreed

to drop me off

and return for me

five days later.

(somber music playing)

Narrator: We drove

for several hours

down the dirt road

that stretched through miles

of flat nothingness.

It was arid,

semi-desert country,

treeless, and barely able

to support shrubs.

- (wind howling)

- (crickets chirping)

Narrator: Late at night,

we reached the banishment camp.

Soon, everybody in the camp

came together to greet us.

They were so glad to see us,

to see anyone.

(gentle music playing)

Narrator: Piet Mokoena,

formerly a tribal leader

in the Orange Free State,

had been in Frenchdale

for ten years.

Paulus Mopeli, a Basotho chief

and the grandson

of the great leader Moshesh,

had been in Frenchdale

for 14 years.

(melancholic music playing)

Narrator: Treaty, his wife,

was banished three years later

and ended up in the same camp

by pure coincidence.

She's still worried

over the fate

of her six-year-old grandchild

who had been pushed out

by police

and told to fend for himself

the night she was picked up.

The first thing about the camp

that strikes the visitor

is the quiet.

(wind whistling)

Narrator:

There were no

children's voices,

none of the murmuring sounds

of daily living.

Nothing.

The banished had lost count

of the days.

Monday looks like Friday

in Frenchdale.

Nothing breaks the monotony.

The passage

from light to darkness

- is their calendar.

- (crickets chirping)

Narrator: In another day or so,

my friend came back for me,

as we had arranged.

- (traffic honking)

- (indistinct chatter)

Narrator: As I re-entered

the restricted Black life

of Johannesburg...

I felt free.

Miriam: I ask you,

and all the leaders

of the world,

would you act differently?

Would you keep silent

and do nothing

if you were in our place?

Would you not resist

if you were allowed no rights

in your own country

because the color of your skin

is different

to that of the ruler,

and if you were punished

for even asking for equality?

Mr. Chairman,

there is already too much hate

in my country.

(camera shutters clicking)

Harold: The Labour Party

are not in favor

of trade sanctions.

They would harm the people

we are most concerned about,

the Africans,

and those white South Africans

who are fighting

to maintain some standard

of decency there.

- (indistinct chatter)

- (water trickling)

Narrator: It was May 19th, 1966.

The day I left the beast.

A group of friends came with me

to the airport.

It was scary and cordial,

all at once.

I was happy to leave nothing,

sad to leave everything.

- (indistinct chatter)

- Narrator: At any moment,

Special Branch could interfere

and arrest us all,

- and for sure...

- (plane engine roaring)

...confiscate all of

my hidden negatives.

(singing in

foreign language)

(upbeat drums playing)

(hisses, exhales)

(chuckles)

(continues singing, fades)

Narrator: Leaving South Africa

was a shock to my friends.

Few had dared to confront

the r*cist administration.

Now, I am here

in this beautiful world,

one we all dreamt about.

("Lovely Lies" by

Miriam Makeba, The Manhattan

Brothers playing)

You tell such lovely lies

With your two lovely eyes

When I leave your embrace

Another takes my place...

Narrator:

A world without prejudice,

without the maddening fear,

without the endless persecution

and nullification

of all identity.

(skipping rope swatting)

Narrator: Yes, some of us

who made it into exile

thought that the world

was just waiting for us,

- great artists...

- (subway tracks rattling)

...but we were driven

to insanity.

(melodic saxophone playing)

Narrator:

The shock was too violent.

We were lost.

Some had been sent back

into hell, battered.

That's what happened to Kippie.

Kippie couldn't bear the exile.

He went back and faced

the regime in South Africa.

He refused to play for years...

and died there, poor, in 1983.

Miriam survived.

The Manhattan Brothers

survived.

And Miriam sang

with The Manhattan Brothers.

("Baby Ntsoare" by Miriam

Makeba, The Manhattan Brothers

playing)

(singing in foreign

language)

Narrator: "What does it take

to survive the West?"

"How am I going to fare

in this land of freedom

and democracy?"

The world loved us

when we were down there,

suffering from Apartheid

and all that stuff.

For some reason,

we thought they would

welcome us with open arms.

But we were wrong.

(triumphant music playing)

Reporter: The flags

of Commonwealth nations

flew over Marlborough House.

It was the start

of the Commonwealth Conference.

Then came the shock news.

Dr. Hendrik Verwoerd,

South African premier,

had been assassinated.

At South Africa house

in London...

Narrator:

I remember that day very well.

I had just left the offices

of Stern magazine.

They had refused all my photos.

They were not interested.

- (tense music playing)

- Narrator: And then,

the wires exploded with the

news of the assassination.

Stern magazine called me back.

A r*cist bigot died.

Suddenly, you have an opening.

Suddenly, your work

makes sense.

(music concludes)

I was, of course, really naive

when I started out

because I thought...

being so far away, you know,

South Africa being so isolated,

that all the noise

at the United Nations

was leading somewhere,

in other words,

that they were going to step in

and bring about some change.

But in coming away

from South Africa,

I found out that South Africa

really was just

one of the topics

on the United Nations agenda.

(brooding

jazz music playing)

Narrator: House of Bondage

took me ten years to make.

So much of me is in it.

All of me is in it.

It made me famous.

It made me.

But why do I feel a sense

of betrayal?

The world didn't want art,

didn't want a book

about just humans,

about the human condition.

It was more

than a political pamphlet.

It was not conceived

as an anti-Apartheid

political crusade.

It was about my life

in South Africa,

and the lives of millions

of others.

(music fades)

Leslie: I became aware

of the existence

of House of Bondage in 1999,

when I was on holiday.

I was walking around the streets

of Cape Town.

I came across a bookstore

called Clarke's Bookstore.

Walked in there.

I found a book of my...

uncle.

It's then that I learned

that the book

was banned in 1967,

and it was never sold

in South Africa.

(mellow jazz music playing)

- (traffic rumbling)

- (indistinct chatter)

Narrator: Now comes the part

where I tell you

what happened to my work...

during all these years I spent

in the US and elsewhere.

The story

of my slow disintegration

and descent into hell.

How I would transition

from famous

and celebrated photographer

to homeless at

the 34th street train station.

All these photos of New York...

only a few

have seen them before.

For a long time,

people believed they were lost,

dumped somewhere in a landfill.

Some 60,000

photos and negatives.

(cheerful music playing)

Narrator: I see you.

I see you every day.

Maybe others

don't see you anymore.

You're too common.

Not exotic enough.

You're not even seen anymore,

or even looked at.

For me, everything is new,

every smile,

every glance,

whether they look

at the camera or avoid it,

and look away

as if it didn't exist.

I see children.

Adults with children.

Women.

(scoffs) Lots of women.

Alone.

In groups...

of two...

or three...

or four.

Black women, white women,

women with hats,

women with scarves,

women with umbrellas,

women without umbrellas,

sometimes also sitting,

reading the paper.

(scoffs)

Not wanting to be annoyed,

or not giving a damn.

Men too.

Men sitting as well.

Sleeping.

Men in groups, looking...

waiting.

Looking again.

And sometimes I come across

faces that I know,

or moments

that I've experienced.

And sometimes,

I see things that could have

never existed in my world.

In South Africa...

these images

are legally a crime.

Here too, not so long ago.

Yes, I photographed a lot

of mixed couples.

It's not so much

by fascination.

It just releases me

from past pains.

In a country where

everything...

anything, is a crime.

Men who love each other,

who kiss,

who look at each other,

who hold hands

in the middle of the street.

Another crime in my country...

- (music fades)

- ...whether white or Black.

Although two Blacks

holding hands

in the streets of Johannesburg

would not attract

much attention.

Black men can hold hands

in public.

It is a sign of deep

friendship.

(lively

country music playing)

- (grass rustling)

- (Kids chattering)

(cicadas chirping)

(birds chirping)

Narrator:

"It was never going to work,"

said a journalist commenting

on my photos of the South.

What did he expect?

In South Africa,

I photographed my life,

my reality.

Here in the US,

I am the other.

I accepted this mission

with mixed feeling.

A country I did not know.

An assignment

which was a false good idea.

The n*gro in the country.

"An outsider's point of view,"

it said.

Taking me totally

out of my comfort zone

in a territory

so ironically similar to mine.

Apartheid there, Jim Crow here.

When I think of it,

there is some perversity

in this.

How is this an outsider's

point of view?

I was 27 years old,

for God's sake.

(indistinct TV chatter)

Narrator: What did they expect?

Michelangelo?

I don't know

if this was my fight or not,

as some have argued.

They said I didn't put

my passion into the assignment.

- (Kids chattering)

- Narrator: Possibly.

But again,

what were your expectations

from a young man

who just spent all of his years

in a r*cist, hazardous,

and mortal country?

And you just thrust him

into the Deep South?

What did you imagine?

In the South,

I was more scared there

than I ever was in

South Africa.

In South Africa,

I was afraid of being arrested.

In the South,

when I was taking pictures,

I was terribly frightened

of being shot.

(music concludes)

Narrator: I was just ten months

in New York.

I imprudently

told a New York Times

journalist that...

"White people

in the United States

are very much like whites

in South Africa

in their attitudes

towards Black people."

He printed it verbatim

in his newspaper...

while observing

that I was just given

a 6,000-dollar grant

from the Ford Foundation.

I added...

"I was so very much surprised

to find

bitter white racism

in America,"

which he printed too.

("God Bless America"

by Ondara playing)

In fifty years

(traffic whizzing by)

When I'm frail

Barely on my feet

Will you be kind, oh, dear

Like you promised

At the embassy?

Oh, God bless America

The heartache of mine

Oh, God bless America

The heartache of mine

Narrator: This country

that I've traveled across

in such a short time,

maybe it's not what I thought

I would see.

It won't matter

Who your god is

Narrator: Perhaps,

it showed me very little.

Or the tone of your skin

Narrator: Perhaps,

its essence and deepest soul

escaped me completely.

Or who you choose

To share your love with

Narrator: I saw men in Memphis,

- protesting with dignity...

- (Protesters clamoring)

...for the rights

that I too had been denied.

Oh, God bless America

(indistinct chatter over radio)

Narrator: I crossed paths

with leaders

that I had never

heard of before.

Oh, God bless America

(indistinct chatter)

Narrator: Stokely Carmichael,

who in the end,

after a decisive

political career,

will be ejected

from this country

to start a new life in Africa,

on my continent.

Crossed visions,

opposite destinies.

(music concludes)

In '68,

I went and met him in New York.

I was doing some work there,

photography.

And...

- I was... somehow felt...

- Interviewer: Mm-hmm.

...began to be very worried

about him

because he seemed

very depressed and...

and isolated.

Narrator: I saw Jrgen again.

I was not well.

(pensive jazz music playing)

Narrator: He probably thought

I was depressed, isolated.

Maybe I was.

He wanted us to bond again.

I was not so inclined.

But I went along.

Jrgen had always been

good to me.

- We entered the restaurant.

- (cutlery clinking)

- (indistinct chatter)

- Narrator: All eyes were on me.

Not on us. On me.

The Black lad.

Measuring, dissecting,

from bottom to top and back,

incredulous to my presence,

my identity,

my demeanor.

In a flash,

I was back in South Africa,

- back to the dirty looks...

- (whistle blowing)

...to the piercing brutality

of staring...

the tranquil violence

of privilege.

I was not in South Africa,

but in New York.

- The year is 1968.

- (police siren blaring)

Narrator:

I was in the free world,

but the world is still

not free.

- (dramatic music playing)

- (Officers clamoring)

(indistinct chatter)

(crowd clamoring)

- (crowd clamoring)

- (Officers shouting)

(siren wailing)

(supporters chanting

in Czech)

Narrator: My book

is banned in South Africa.

I'm not surprised,

but it still hurts.

No one at home will see

my work.

(music fades)

Narrator: I am homesick,

and I can't return.

(gloomy jazz music playing)

Narrator: Some of my fellow

white American photographers

claimed that my work

in America was lacking edge.

What is the object

of their comparison?

What do they know

about my reality,

my urgency?

The price you pay for exile

is supposedly living safer.

I can only photograph

my own experiences.

South Africa is my frame

of reference.

My frame of life.

What are you

actually blaming me for?

That I turned my camera on you

and saw nothing?

(tense music playing)

Narrator:

I have an explorer's gaze.

- Explorer in a distant land.

- (indistinct chatter)

(water rippling)

Narrator:

A land I vaguely dreamt of.

A land that promised

milk and honey...

- (fountain sputtering)

- ...in multiple forms.

(Kids laughing, chattering)

Narrator: There are these photos

where we do not know

where we are.

(music fades)

Narrator: It could be

Johannesburg, Soweto,

or the suburbs of Pretoria.

- These same faces...

- (drum beating)

...this familiarity,

the same gleam in the eyes

challenging the photographer.

Here...

there,

I am trying to capture

moments of reality,

finding the fractures,

the essence,

the nature of human lives.

(upbeat jazz music playing)

(Kids laughing, screaming)

(Kids chattering)

Narrator: These are not answers.

They are questions.

An America that was sold to me.

I don't judge, I observe.

Sometimes amazed,

other times appalled.

(mellow jazz music playing)

Narrator: I applied

for a new passport.

One to go home.

The weight of isolation.

(cart wheels rattling)

Narrator:

No family, no real friends.

No support structure

you can trust.

Friends coming and going.

Each one more or less

as disheveled as you are.

No remedy to despair.

Literally eating you away.

Leslie: He used

to make reverse calls,

and most of the time,

he wanted to speak to me

because he wanted me to come

and visit him in New York.

But unfortunately,

I couldn't do that

because my mother

was not happy about that.

She said that I'm not going

to come back

like my uncle.

(exciting jazz music

playing)

(music fades)

Leslie: He decided

to go to Sweden,

I believe, around 1968.

He thought maybe

if he goes to Sweden,

he might find a different place

to America.

But unfortunately,

there were very few

Black people in Sweden.

He was not even allowed

into some of the public spaces,

like restaurants,

because he was Black.

(pensive jazz music playing)

Narrator:

Looking for new places,

I was able to secure

short-term visas

to England, Denmark,

and Sweden.

That's how I found Ingrid

on the way.

Ingrid Wigh,

and her sister, Catarina

I lived some time with them.

Locked in that flat

outside Stockholm,

we didn't know

what to do with ourselves.

Today, Ingrid is 85 years old.

She does not remember much

of these endless afternoons.

"My memory fails me," she says.

Leslie: Fortunate for him,

he met Rune Hassner

and they became good friends,

and he introduced him

to Tiofoto agency,

and then he became

a member there,

and they decided to help him

with his body of work.

He has actually spent

in a year,

I would say,

three months in Sweden

from 1968 until 1972.

And thereafter,

he stopped traveling to Sweden

until 1979,

and he went there

for about a week.

And that was the last time

he visited Sweden.

What is happening

outside South Africa

is as important

as what might be happening

within South Africa itself.

And therefore,

what we are asking

the world to do

is not to solve

our problems for us,

but to assist us

solve those problems.

Because the worst

of all horrors in the world

is to live forever

as a sl*ve, as a hated,

despised subhuman.

Narrator: "22nd November, 1971.

To Miss Dolly A. McPherson

at the Institute

of International Education."

"This is to inform you

that the first half

of my travel and study award

is now finished."

(traffic rumbling)

Narrator: "I would therefore

like to request

from the Ford Foundation

and extension,

so that I can complete

the second half

of my project."

- (rain pattering)

- (somber music playing)

Narrator:

"On 14th November, 1972,

as you may recall,

when the last grant

was made to Mr. Cole,

it was anticipated

that a subsequent award

would be authorized

for a 12-month period."

"But Miss McPherson,

who administered

the earlier awards to Mr. Cole,

has recently left

the Institute.

Furthermore, there is no

evidence in the file

that the recipient

ever submitted a single picture

in exchange

for the allocated money."

(pensive jazz music playing)

Narrator:

Harlem requires patience.

Everybody's putting on a front.

Acting important and

suspicious.

And I don't blame them.

My soul is of two minds,

torn and battered.

This city is hard

to keep up with.

It hustles

for your total attention,

and it's driving me crazy.

Yes, a lot of people thought

I'd stop photographing

in all those years,

that fame had crushed me,

that I'd lost my way

in this new jungle

that was the modern West.

- (indistinct chatter)

- (cutlery clinking)

Narrator: Yet,

I never stopped photographing

for a single moment.

(bell dinging)

Narrator: I photographed

light American stuff

and heavy American stuff.

I don't show new material

for the sake of showing it.

I want the viewer to walk away

with a message...

(crowd cheering, applauding)

...not just a head

full of images.

(mellow jazz music playing)

- (music concludes)

- (traffic whizzing by)

Narrator: I called Mother today.

(indistinct chatter)

Narrator: Not much to say.

We are living

in two different worlds.

I will send some money soon.

I'm homesick...

and I can't return.

(pensive jazz music playing)

- (traffic rumbling)

- (police siren wailing)

(indistinct chatter)

Narrator: "January 1973."

(music concludes)

Narrator:

"A preliminary approval

for a 6,000-dollar grant

to Ernest Cole

to start the second half

of his project,

and a waiving of the overspend

have been allocated."

"The only minor difficulty

is that this new payment

would have to wait

for the new tax year."

I must leave this room.

And find another

good Samaritan.

I need shelter for a few days.

More would be preferable.

Announcer: (over PA)

This is the 2nd Avenue bound E.

(subway tracks rattling)

Narrator: I found some respite

at Riverside Church Dormitory.

That's where I eat, sleep,

rest.

Taking it a day at a time.

A home far away from home,

where school children

are k*lled by the police.

- (g*nshots firing)

- (crowd clamoring)

(Officers shouting)

(Protesters clamoring)

Narrator:

I saw a psychiatrist today

at the Harlem Hospital.

Well, was kind of forced to,

in order to keep

my Social Security checks.

So many questions.

So many cadavers.

The doctor thinks

I might be paranoid. (scoffs)

I certainly have

good reasons to be.

Reporter: (in French)

(traffic rumbling)

Narrator: (in English)

New York, summer of 1977.

Standing at the window,

I can barely see the sky.

Neither sunset, nor sunrise.

It is a lie

to put things in the frame.

All photographs are lies.

- (indistinct chatter)

- (police siren wailing)

Narrator: Blackout in the city.

There is this YMCA on 34th.

I used to pass by it

so many times, years ago.

(traffic honking)

- Narrator: Now, I live there.

- (firetruck siren wailing)

Narrator: Scary to be

in a YMCA room these days.

- Today's meal, Indian lentils.

- (lively chatter)

Narrator: A tin of tomato soup.

A boiled frankfurter,

late at night, if I'm lucky.

Am I a traitor to my country?

That's what the state radio

says in South Africa.

(gloomy jazz music playing)

Narrator: Today,

I am not in the mood to talk.

A Soviet surveillance satellite

detects South Africa's

nuclear test

and alerts the United States.

President Carter

asks for less consumption

of oil.

Steve Biko is arrested

for breaking a ban order.

He died under t*rture.

What is political?

What do they want from me?

(crowd chanting indistinctly)

We should not mourn

the death of Steve Biko

We must plan

to act to punish the culprits,

to destroy the Apartheid regime

and liberate the patriots

from its clutches.

(Kids laughing, chattering)

Narrator: It's been a while

since I took any picture.

My cameras are lost,

sold, forgotten somewhere.

I miss the warmth of a love.

(uplifting music playing)

(indistinct chatter)

- (music concludes)

- (subway tracks rattling)

Leslie: I believe

Ernest started losing ground

with his work during the '80s.

He stopped photographing.

He became homeless.

His career fizzled out,

and his photograph...

his pictures rather,

were completely forgotten.

Narrator: Received a letter

from my mother.

Left it unopened

in my pocket...

- (bicycle bell ringing)

- ...for months.

(somber jazz music playing)

Narrator: I'm homesick.

And I can't return.

My passport is denied.

I can never go home again.

But I remember,

so vividly,

the market on Wanderer Street.

(indistinct chatter)

Narrator: (inhales)

I remember two young girls

walking home to Soweto...

as if the world

was still in order.

I stopped to talk to them.

One in particular,

a smile to die for.

Everything could be so simple.

(traffic whizzing by)

- (music concludes)

- (subway tracks rattling)

Narrator: Yes,

there were these rumors

that I was on drugs.

I never drank, never smoked,

never indulged in drugs,

even though I had enough

reasons

- to do any or all of it.

- (match flicking, sizzling)

(syringe clattering)

Narrator: "May 15th, 1991."

"Mr. John Hillelson,

The John Hillelson Agency."

"Dear Mr. Hillelson,

Ernest always led me to believe

he had negatives in Sweden."

"What he had

in the United States,

as far as I know,

he lost irretrievably

when he left his belongings

in a storeroom

in a Manhattan rooming house

without claiming them

for more than a year."

"They were then discarded

by the rooming house

in 1977."

"I know because I went there

with Ernest in the vain effort

to reclaim the stuff."

"I'm sorry

I can't be more helpful."

"Sincerely, Joseph Lelyveld,

managing editor,

The New York Times."

(intriguing music playing)

Leslie: I received an email

dated the fifth of July, 2016.

Subject, "Urgent, can we meet?"

The email further said

that before the meeting

they would like to have

the following information.

Names of family members

that were alive

when Ernest Cole died,

including

their identification numbers,

as well as their

home addresses.

I was a bit suspicious

as to why, you know.

- as to why, you know.

- (music concludes)

What I did was I,

you know, at first,

you know, decided

that I'm not going to respond.

But after processing the content

of the email...

took me about two or three days,

and then I decided,

"Let me respond."

At that stage, the advocate,

Ulf Bergquist,

responded to my email.

by saying that...

he has been appointed

by the district court

of Stockholm

to act as an administrator

because they have found...

material belonging

to Ernest Cole

in a bank safe in Sweden.

(intriguing music playing)

Leslie:

I received a call from Sweden

suggesting that we should come

and collect the material

- in Sweden.

- (music concludes)

Leslie: Then I accepted

the invitation from

the advocate

and he arranged tickets for us,

myself and my son, Gontse.

I was not happy when I saw

his initial itinerary.

I said, "No, perhaps,

maybe we should extend

the number of days

that, you know, we should spend

in Sweden."

So that I could have

the opportunity

to ask questions.

"What really happened

to Ernest Cole's material?"

"Why is it in the bank?"

"Who was paying?"

"And then for how many years

was the material

in the bank," you know,

so that, you know,

this could... should not be

part of dustbin of history.

He addressed me like a

schoolboy and then

he then said,

"You will arrive in the morning

and then I will ensure

that you receive the material

from my office,

and then you will travel back

to South Africa

the same evening."

I became more

and more suspicious.

They took us

to a meeting office...

(elevator dinging)

...and we sat there

in the meeting office,

and one of the ladies

went out and brought back

the first safety deposit box,

put it on the table.

Man: We're going

to let you guys open them.

- (intriguing music playing)

- (indistinct chatter)

Is there a way to open this?

- Woman: Yeah.

- Ulf Bergquist: No.

(group laughing)

- Yes, we have scissors.

- Oh, okay.

- (speaks indistinctly)

- So it's there. Thank you.

(chuckles)

So, it's the normal way

of opening.

- There we are, huh?

- Woman: Okay.

- Man: Perfect.

- Voil!

(group chuckling)

(exclaims) I have to be

very careful, huh?

Ulf: Yeah.

Woman: Should I open

the second one

- or you want to?

- Man: Yes, please.

- Man: Huh?

- Leslie: Yeah.

- Leslie: Wow!

- (indistinct chatter)

Leslie: The files of...

my uncle's

South African negatives.

nicely, you know, organized

in beautiful files

made in Sweden,

marked, you know,

the years and the place

when they were taken

and so forth.

When they brought

the third box,

also fell open lots of

Ernest Cole research material,

paper clips,

magazines,

his notes on House of Bondage

and so forth.

I couldn't really believe

what I'd found.

Shortly after being excited

to see what we found,

and then we decided

now maybe it's a perfect moment

to start asking questions.

The answer was

unfortunately disappointing

because all they could say

was that...

there is absolutely no record

who deposited...

the safety deposit...

the material in the bank.

And also, there is no record

of anyone doing any payments

for them to keep

the information in the bank.

I couldn't even believe,

you know...

A bank in Sweden?

No record?

And they handed over

this material to us

without signing anything?

It was something

very, very, very strange to me.

(somber jazz music playing)

Narrator: Winter of 1982.

(truck beeping)

Narrator: My crises

are getting worse by the day

and more burdensome.

I met a friend on Broadway

and 113th Street.

He introduced me

to his Indian wife.

She is beautiful and smart.

Such a lucky fellow.

I live with Feni now,

in the same apartment.

He is working

on his defining sculpture.

History, he calls it.

We do not speak much,

but we understand

each other's torments

in this freezing town.

Feni's work has been banned

in South Africa,

like mine,

and like Nat Nakasa's writings

a few years back.

Nat was around our age.

He left South Africa

because he did not want to,

as he said,

perish in his own bitterness.

(tense music playing)

Narrator: One day in July 1965,

he threw himself

from the seventh floor

of a building in New York.

- He was 28 years old.

- (music concludes)

Narrator: "I want to write

about people, not enemies,"

- he used to say.

- (indistinct chatter)

(car engine rumbling)

Narrator:

Exile is destroying us,

one by one.

(melancholic music playing)

Narrator:

When the Apartheid regime fell,

Feni decided to go home.

The day before flying back,

he wanted to buy

a few records to bring home.

He had a massive heart attack

in the store

and died there.

Ellington was playing

on the loudspeakers.

("African Flower"

by Duke Ellington playing)

Narrator: I walk and I walk

and I walk through the city.

If I stop walking,

I will just die.

Maybe I'm bitter

like they all say,

but nothing new

that others have not

lived through before me.

(sirens wailing in distance)

Narrator: I am bitter.

I try to protect myself

from the noise, from the hype,

from the bloody hell

that my country has become,

while the world

is still finding excuses.

(music concludes)

(in French)

Reporter: (in English)

British Prime Minister

whose unbending opposition

to sanctions

against South Africa,

is threatening to break apart

the Commonwealth.

I have not taken...

I've not made any changes

in my own position

on South Africa.

Well, let me tell you

why we believe

Mrs. Thatcher is right.

The primary victims

of an economic boycott

of South Africa

would be the very people

we seek to help.

De Klerk: When I was a young man

of 21 and 25,

why did I support

separate development?

Soon after I entered politics,

and in my years

as a backbencher already,

I came to the realization,

"It's not working."

And especially

since the early '80s,

I became convinced

that where we stand

is morally indefensible,

and that Apartheid was wrong.

(Residents chanting

in foreign language)

Narrator: (in English)

History is a strange thing.

It is amazing

how people's discourse changes

within just a few years.

A comfortable position

to be in,

I would say even a privilege,

to just acknowledge

that you were wrong

with hardly any consequences

whatsoever.

You will just go on

and enjoy your loot.

(birds chirping)

(rain pattering)

Narrator:

I did contemplate suicide,

not just once.

I reviewed time and again

all possible scenarios

for my death.

At home,

people were disappearing

every day,

kidnapped in the night

or in plain daylight.

Bodies would resurface

mutilated,

d*sfigured, unrecognizable,

in some dumps or in car trunks.

I did contemplate suicide.

Not just once.

- (indistinct chatter)

- (Kids laughing)

(brooding music playing)

Gerrie: They would kidnap

or abduct middle of the night,

kick down doors,

take the individual they want,

take him back to the complex

and then interrogate him

up to the third degree.

Interviewer: What do you mean

by third degree?

Well, we made use of...

(hesitates)

...half drownings,

electric shocks,

tubing, favorite term,

that's where

you step somebody's face into...

the inner of a car tire

and basically suffocate him.

Alex: You have told us

today, that you were tortured

many times

in many different places.

What actually

did they do to you?

(speaking in native language)

Translator:

"During the torturing,

I always..."

(speaking in native language)

Translator: "I was always

suffocated with a mask,

and there was

this helicopter training."

(speaking in native language)

Translator: "And a stick was put

inside your knees

and you had

to stretch your knees."

"During that period,

you were suffocated."

(speaking in native language)

It's fine, don't worry about it.

(sobs)

(breathes heavily)

(indistinct chatter)

Alex: That's all.

Interviewer: How many people

have you k*lled

as a security policeman?

Well...

As an individual,

it's hard to say how many,

but collectively, we k*lled

between 30, 35.

Interviewer: Why did you k*ll

these people?

It was instructions

from the head office.

It was instructions

from my immediate commanders.

Ashley: Do you remember

saying to me that

you are able to treat me

like an animal

or like a human being,

and that how you treated me

depended on whether...

I cooperated or not?

Jeffrey: I can't remember it

correctly, sir,

but I would concede,

I may have said it.

Can I then also just ask

if you remember that

while I was laying

on the ground, that somebody...

inserted a metal rod

into my an*s and shocked me?

What actually led to that,

I cannot say,

except that I concede

the method of detention

was...

a Draconian... law

instituted by the then

Nationalist Government, sir.

(melancholic music playing)

Narrator: Roaming for days,

for months,

in this temple

for hurried travelers,

vaguely monitoring

streams of bodies

going somewhere.

The new rumor was

that I had become a vagrant,

a bag person in New York.

Maybe the rumors were right.

Sometimes,

people would recognize me.

"Look, the great Ernest Cole,"

they say to their friends.

They shake my hand.

They praise my work.

Tell me about their admiration.

I usually don't talk much.

Sometimes they come back

the next day,

bringing new friends,

wanting to help.

But my torments

are not curable.

This nagging feeling

of rootlessness.

(camera shutter clicking)

(mellow jazz music playing)

(camera shutter clicking)

Narrator: It's been eight years

since I touched a camera.

Eight long years.

I feel like an old man.

I am an old man.

My friend, the great jazz

player and composer,

Abdullah Ibrahim,

told me

about a Magnum photographer

who wanted to meet me.

Rashid Lombard was his name.

Rashid Lombard

took these pictures.

(camera shutter clicking)

Narrator: I took one

of his cameras in my hands.

It was cold.

"Can I take a picture?"

I asked.

- "Yes," he said.

- (music concludes)

Narrator: "Do you mind

sitting there?" I asked.

I took just one frame.

- Only one.

- (camera shutter clicking)

Narrator: That's all I could.

- (brooding music playing)

- (birds chirping)

Narrator: You might still want

to know how my negatives

and my personal archives

got into a Swedish bank vault.

Who put them there?

Who paid for the deposit?

Since when?

But you know what?

I don't really care anymore.

Whatever happened, happened.

And it definitely

was not right.

Who ordered, omitted, hid,

swapped, covered up,

silenced anything,

will still have to answer

to their own conscience.

(music concludes)

Narrator: Today, what counts

is that all my work

is finally home,

where it belongs.

Let us never break faith

with our people or our land,

with our martyrs

who have died for us,

or with our heroes

who live for us.

- Amandla!

- Supporters: Awethu!

- Amandla!

- Supporters: Awethu!

- (pensive music playing)

- (birds chirping)

Narrator:

New York is a soulless city.

No one looks at the sky here.

Someone urgently needs

to watch the sky.

Maybe I should.

I'll watch over the sunset.

- I'll watch over the

sunrise...

- (indistinct chatter)

...for all the people.

(music concludes)

Narrator:

"New York, January 1990."

"Dear Mrs. Cole,

I'm calling you to let you know

that your son,

Ernest, is not well."

"His doctors think

that it would be a good time

to come and be with him."

"He has not long to live."

Nelson Mandela is to be set free

at one o'clock tomorrow.

South Africa's president,

De Klerk, hopes it will create

a positive, peaceful climate

for negotiations

on a new South Africa.

(sirens wailing in distance)

Narrator: "It's terminal,"

Dr. Rafii tells me.

Pancreatic cancer.

A few weeks, tops.

That's it.

I wish I could die

in my country.

At the consulate,

they said I was no longer

a South African citizen.

(crowd clamoring, echoing)

Narrator: Mother flew

all the way from South Africa

to see me die.

At first,

standing in my room...

she didn't say a word.

Then...

very softly, she put her hand

behind my neck,

as if feeling something.

(sighs)

"He is dying," she said.

Mother stayed until the end.

She looked at me

as I was gasping into death.

She stayed there in the room...

until I died.

("The Funeral"

by George Fenton playing)

(crowd cheering)

Reporter: There's Mr. Mandela,

Mr. Nelson Mandela,

a free man

taking his first steps

into a new South Africa.

(choir singing)

Reporter: This is

Winnie Mandela next to him,

- waving to the crowds.

- (crowd clamoring)

(song continues)

(crowd cheering)

(crowd cheering)

(song fades)

Narrator: There were cries

and speeches.

There were ministers

at my funeral,

artists,

important people.

After the ceremony,

they all gathered.

People came from all over.

They brought

cooked African foods.

"I will not bury him here,"

said Mother.

So, they cremated my body.

(gloomy jazz music playing)

Narrator: She took the ashes

on her lap, on the airplane,

all the way

to Mamelodi Cemetery.

(birds chirping)

It'll stand, I mean, you know,

in the future because, uh...

I'm sure South Africa

will be free.

- Amandla!

- Crowd: Awethu!

- Amandla!

- Crowd: Awethu!

- Nelson: Free Africa!

- (crowd cheering)

(Nelson speaking indistinctly,

echoing)

(uplifting jazz music

playing)

(birds chirping)

Narrator:

The last photos I took...

lost souls.

Long ago,

detached from everything.

Empty, useless bodies.

My ultimate photos.

An absurd catchphrase...

but so fitting.

(chuckles softly)

I still have some humor left.

One last look.

Yes.

I do see you.

(lively jazz music playing)

(pensive jazz music playing)

(music concludes)