I discovered a hidden gem on Netflix called Outside Man in which BBC presenter Reggie Yates travels to first South Africa and then Russia to explore aspects of their societies in a very personal way. The first episode is about disposessed whites living in squalid squatter camps unable to find work because whites are, by government policy, effectively locked out of most job opportunities in order to atone for apartheid. What was interesting was that many of those poor whites were resigned to it saying it was only just for what their fathers did to the blacks. That blew me away. In another scene some rich black South African kids are partying on the other side of the lake from the white squatter camp and are driving flash cars oblivious to the invisible people on the other side of the lake.
In the second episode he spends time in an emergency ward in a black township where 100 stabbings and trauma cases come through in one weekend. In the third he buddies up with a preacher (religion is huge in SA and he explores why).
The first three are about South Africa, the second set of three episodes are about Russia. He explores the rise of right wing nationalism in Russia and falls in with some Nazis, which is remarkable because Yates is black.
This is an intelligent and sensitively done program. For American distribution it's been packaged as Outside Man, but originally it was two BBC series called Extreme South Africa and Extreme Russia If you have Netflix I urge you to check it out.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reggie_Yates
Re: Reggie Yates: South Africa & Russia
2Gee, if I could borrow your Neflix account...
"It is better to be violent, if there is violence in our hearts, than to put on the cloak of non-violence to cover impotence. There is hope for a violent man to become non-violent. There is no such hope for the impotent." -Gandhi
Re: Reggie Yates: South Africa & Russia
3There are a lot of cord cutters out there.Bisbee wrote:Gee, if I could borrow your Neflix account...
If you were a Russian hacker you wouldn't need to ask.
Re: Reggie Yates: South Africa & Russia
4I watched every Reggie Yates episode. It was really good. Goes to show why the Trumpers love Russia. And I was amazed to see how the wealthier blacks in South Africa refused to believe there were actually poor and homeless white South Africans. His newer stuff where he ventures into the US and looks at race relations here is also excellent. Reggie is black but he's a Brit. He's not African American.
"The last thing right-wing nuts, fascists and haters want is liberals owning guns and knowing how to use them." - Wise Liberal
Re: Reggie Yates: South Africa & Russia
5I started this, pretty entertaining, and covers subcultures which aren't normally looked at.
Awkward moment when the image-conscious Russian nationalist (Vadim IIRC) talks about self defense which seems normal to even us but offends Reggie's British sensibilities. Sure the guy may be a xenophobe (though one of the less blatant ones in the episode), but I don't find the self defense impulse weird.
Awkward moment when the image-conscious Russian nationalist (Vadim IIRC) talks about self defense which seems normal to even us but offends Reggie's British sensibilities. Sure the guy may be a xenophobe (though one of the less blatant ones in the episode), but I don't find the self defense impulse weird.
Re: Reggie Yates: South Africa & Russia
6Not as awkward as the laughably oblivious homoerotic interview conducted in the Russian steam sauna when the two naked men lightly beat and massage each other with the traditional birch branches as the young Russian says how he wants to purify Mother Russia and rid her of foreigners and homosexuals.khlavkalash wrote: Wed Mar 21, 2018 10:37 pm I started this, pretty entertaining, and covers subcultures which aren't normally looked at.
Awkward moment when the image-conscious Russian nationalist (Vadim IIRC) talks about self defense which seems normal to even us but offends Reggie's British sensibilities. Sure the guy may be a xenophobe (though one of the less blatant ones in the episode), but I don't find the self defense impulse weird.