Imprisoned
- A busy Dutch street. Dutch people are very diverse in appearance and descent.
- We meet two Dutch boys of about fourteen years: Paul and Ronald. Ronald is of Surinam origin.
- Ronald, at home, reads in an Asterix- comics book about the Roman Empire. He dreams away. The idea of keeping slaves appeals to him. Slaves do as you tell them.
Paul is looking for a subject for his talk at school. Ronald suggests Paul to keep his talk about slavery.
- Fragment from the motion picture ´Roots´ where slaves are being spurred on a road.
- Paul carves a branch and penetrates it with a pin. He duplicates something he saw in a book about slavery: a neck binding. He wants to show this in class at his talk. He tells Ronald that slaves have resisted sometimes. He knows this because of the film ´Roots´ that he has on video. He shows a part.
- This same part is being shown in class at the talk. Paul continues with information about slavery in Africa.
- Africa, Ghana around 1780. A Dutch trader negotiates with an African headman about the sale of slaves. These are being chained, branded and locked in dark cellars under the fortress at the sea.
- The cellars are packed. In the ground there is a hole for drinking water, that is, if the tide is high; then the water is high enough. Food is being thrown inside. The slaves are scared and aggressive. Guards dare not go inside.
- The slaves are being taken aboard a Dutch sea ship. They all have to come along. There is hardly any room at all. The journey can take weeks. Destination: the other side of the Atlantic, to the West Indies. For the slaves, the trip shall not be anything less than hell.
Slave labour
- The slaves had to work on one of many Surinam plantations where sugar cane was cultivated.
- Life at the plantation is hard and futureless for the slaves.
- Running away was one of the last possibilities to escape from this life. The dense forests where close by. Fled slaves, the marrons, formed communities there, but eventually they, too, were not really free.
- Paul and Ronald ring the doorbell at the West Indies House. They want to know more about the West India Company that used to trade in slaves. The people that now work in this building know nothing about it. Both boys find this kind of odd.
- A young slave and an old one try to escape. The young one gets away but the old one doesn’t. He dies.
- Short information about the abolishment of slavery after 1800 in various countries. In Surinam this was not until 1863.
- It is long ago. The history of slavery is a sad story. There is not much that reminds us of it here in the Netherlands. But Surinam and Antillean people that live here still feel what has been done to them, even though they have never been slaves.
- Ronald walks toward the Oosterpark with his mother and Paul. The slavery monument will be unveiled. Speaker: And for that reason we have wanted this monument to be raised… etc.
Accross the Ocean
- Paul and Ronald come from school. They are talking about Paul´s talk.
- While cycling along the park they discover a tv interviewer. They listen. The interviewees react very differently on the arrival of a slavery monument in the park.
- At Paul´s home Ronald reacts irritated. It dawns upon him that black Surinam people are originally from Africa. He himself is black too, even though he has a real Dutch name.
- The slave´s journey across the ocean becomes a torture. They are crammed beneath the deck. The air is stuffy. It´s a living hell. Smallpox breaks out. Many die. Humiliating experiences of forced singing and dancing on the deck while given an airing.
- The end of the trip is a big relief although the future remains uncertain.
- The announcer at the market shouts: this afternoon at two o´clock auction of new slaves!
- Auction. The slaves are being sold like animals. For the first time they see their new boss: a planter, possessing a huge plantation where sugar cane grows that needs to be planted, cut and processed.
- The remaining slaves are pushed in a cot underneath the plantation house.
- Escaping was useless.
- Paul and Ronald are discussing the possibility that Ronald originates from slaves. This seems horrible to Ronald. He asks his mother. She confirms his misgiving suspicion; she shows him a proof of freedom that her grandfather gave her. It is signed by the Governor of Surinam in 1857. Slavery was ending by then. A few years later it was abolished.
My Story
I happen to know the director, Frank Zichem (who has been making films almost all his life, “Anton de Kom” one of his known films). He had been to Ghana earlier to do research on his own script he was working on. He had asked me earlier if I was interested in playing a part in Ghana and Suriname.
So when he accepted to direct the slavery film for TeleacNot he asked me also to help with the research in Ghana, and to play the role of local producer. When I red the script I didn’t hesitate at all. The story was very powerful and realistic and I thought it was about time such a film was made, “the missing link“ that has not been discussed in History books and lessons.
I went with Frank and the producer, Iris Hospes for 2 weeks to do an extensive research in Ghana which took us to the following locations; Asebu, Kakum, Assin Manso, Kumasi, Elmina, Cape-Coast, Kromantse, Winneba and Accra.
The main location for the shooting was Asebu, Assin Manso (slave river, slavermarket) and Elmina, the slave Castle, (“The gate of No Return”).
Two months later after the research we went to Ghana again with a crew of 15 people consisting of a Cameraman, Assistant director, Script girl, set dresser, make-up girl, 5 actors and actresses, light and sound operators, grip man….
One of my jobs was taking care of the logistics. The crew had about 600 kilo’s of equipment and props that needed to be cleared at customs and also to be shipped afterwards to Suriname and Holland. All the equipments needed to be on the various locations during the shooting.
The accommodation and transportation of the crew and actors needed to be taken care of on all locations. Extra’s and Ghanaian actors had to be arranged for almost all the film locations. Props were also rented in Ghana. We needed to ask permission to film (Letter of Accredition) and also close down Elmina Castle for a day. In Assin Manso for instance we had about 100 people from the village taking part in the film on 3 different occasions. They needed to be dressed, fed and paid daily and instructed which role they will be playing each day. On certain locations I had to employ some local assistance. We also worked with the best Ghanaians actors; David Dontoh (Chief), Pusher (head of the warriors).
Generally we had a very good reception in Ghana. The crew were very surprised at the hospitality and willingness of Ghanaians on all levels, from the ministries, chiefs all the way to Ghanaian actors and extra’s who took part.
I look back on a very successful production in Ghana and am happy to have taken part in a very important project that would help explain the atrocities that took place in the past. It's therefore important that the details of slavery be recounted for each new generation, so that we understand the injustice that still pervades our society.
George Duncan
Chairman Sankofa Foundation.