behind the scenes > director's statement Director's statementIntroduction
THE MAN WHO STOLE MY MOTHER'S FACE is a deeply personal film in
which I search for justice for my mother following a traumatic crime that occurred
fourteen years ago.
On 23 December 1988, my mother was sexually assaulted and violently
beaten in her home in Johannesburg, South Africa by a young white teenager and
left for dead. She managed to crawl to her neighbour's house and survived the
attack, but she suffered deep and lasting damage include the loss of her sense
of self, her faith in humanity, and her will to live. Her face was so badly
smashed that it had to be completely reconstructed, and for ten years she refused
to look at herself in the mirror. After the attack, I brought her to Australia
and she now lives on the outskirts of Lismore in Northern NSW. She was on a
toxic brew of anti-depressants for eight years, and had locked herself away
from the world, living the life of a suburban hermit.
Why I went back to South Africa
In early 2001, I proposed the idea to my mother of going back
to Johannesburg to try and find the man who had attacked her and to seek some
form of justice. My mother had identified her attacker from a school photograph
after the assault but he was never charged with the crime. Whereas before the
attack she was outgoing, highly creative, slightly eccentric and fascinated
by human nature, she was now distrustful of individuals and society as a whole.
Her view was "if you take away justice, you take away the fabric of society
and even the meaning of life". She had become a hermit and was often severely
depressed and suicidal.
At first my mother was dubious about the idea, but the very fact that I was
talking to her about what had happened seemed to have a positive effect. The
main problem was that she had little faith in the police and justice systems
in South Africa. But South Africa had undergone enormous changes since Laura
had left the country in September 1989. There was a new regime in place, and
Nelson Mandela had inspired the country with a spirit of optimism, unity and
forgiveness. I wondered how this new regime would view an unsolved crime from
the past.
Raising development finance for the film
I successfully pitched the idea to the ABC at the Documentary
Conference in Perth. We had just finished the highly successful film LOSING
LAYLA and I think that helped create a climate of confidence that we could tell
a personal story like this in the documentary form. We were able to secure development
funding from the AFC and the NSW FTO and this made it possible to undertake
a research trip to Johannesburg and to secure international interest in the
project.
The first trip in 2001
The first trip back to Johannesburg was in June of 2001. I was
accompanied by my partner and co-producer Jeff Canin and Vanessa Gorman, who
was working with me at that stage as co-director. (Vanessa became pregnant some
months later and withdrew from the project to focus on being a parent, but continued
to be a script consultant). We went to the police station that had handled the
case in 1989 and found that the investigating officer, Jan van der Mescht, had
since retired from the police force and all documents relating to the case were
missing. However, the head of the station Supt. John Miles rang van der Mescht
while I was in his office and van der Mescht revealed that he remembered interviewing
the suspect who admitted being in my mother’s house but denied the assault.
I considered this a great break-through, as it was very clear to us that whoever
was in my mother’s house that night had committed the crime. But when
van der Mescht heard that I wanted to meet with him, he evaded me for five days
and then denied remembering anything at all about the case. This was extremely
frustrating, and I was feeling very despondent about it all when I met Charlene
Smith. She told me that if I wanted justice, I would have to fight for it, and
it would not be easy. But she also offered to provide significant contacts and
assistance if I decided to return and continue the quest for justice.
Charlene's high profile in South Africa was of crucial importance
during my second trip to Johannesburg in dealing with authorities in the police
and judicial system. She has won numerous ‘Woman of the Year’ and
‘Person of the Year’ awards for her work as a campaigner for human
rights particularly in relation to sexual violence and HIV. She has also won
many journalism awards including the 2000 CNN African Journalist of the Year
award, and is highly regarded by people in all levels of government and the
justice system.
Raising international finance and interest in the film
After the first frustrating trip to Johannesburg, my partner Jeff
and I went to a documentary market in Marseille to meet with our Montreal based
distributor, Jan Rofekamp and other broadcasters to gauge the international
interest in this story. There was considerable interest, including from HBO
who had bought our previous film LOSING LAYLA. Back in Australia, we began the
long and arduous process of putting together a deal for the Film Finance Corporation
and raising the necessary finance and support for the film. I also went to MIP
TV in Cannes in May 2002 and Hot Docs in Toronto to raise further international
interest in the film. Finally we had the package together and went into production
in September 2002. I returned to Johannesburg with Production Manager Aliison
Kelly in late September and we hired a local crew consisting of DOP, sound recordist
and driver/security person. Jeff joined us for 3 weeks in November and was present
when I finally confronted the suspect.
The second trip to South Africa in 2002
The first thing I did on this second trip was to contact Charlene Smith again
who introduced me to the head of the new Sexual Offences Unit based in Johannesburg,
and he agreed to re-open the case. He assigned the investigation to Capt. Arnold
Boonstra. I obtained permission from the police to film the investigation and
began spending time with Arnold and his off-sider Ferdi. The rest of the story
is in the film.
Not a film about South Africa
Although the story plays out largely in Johannesburg, this is not a film about
South Africa. This crime could have taken place in any country, and the young,
white teenager who carried out the assault could live anywhere. South Africa
lends a unique quality to the circumstances, but it is a universal story about
the aftermath of trauma and the need for some form of justice.
Laura appearing in the film
At first my mother did not want to appear in the film, but as time progressed,
she began to see the value in telling her story and the greater impact her presence
would have in the film. She began to feel that perhaps, finally, some good may
come of this terrible trauma. By the end she was completely willing to expose
every aspect of her story and to show the real depths of the despair she had
reached in its aftermath. She also surprised herself by finding that she could
still play the piano, something she had not done since the assault, and that
other aspects of her creative life were returning. She joined the University
of the Third Age, made new friends, including male friends, and began an exercise
and weight loss program. She is now enjoying being back in the world and renewing
her faith in human nature.
Family archive material
Laura’s first person narrative was constructed from interviews and a narrative
which we wrote together to accompany a mixture of archive footage and re-creation
images. When I went to Johannesburg in early 1989 following the attack, I took
a Video 8 camera which I had recently acquired. My film-making career was just
beginning, and I was experimenting by filming everything around me. This footage
became a valuable source of archive material in reconstructing the events of
1988/89. My brother had also been experimenting with the new domestic cameras
and he filmed Laura with the iron cage on her face after the attack. My father
had been a well-known film-maker in South Africa and I had access to a short
home-movie he shot on Super 8 film while he and my mother were on their honeymoon
in 1952.
My first person narration
The main body of the film is the quest for justice and the police investigation.
I realised very early in the development stage that I would need to be in the
film and to use a first person narration. I began writing the narration script
during the second visit to Johannesburg and wrote a complete script of the film
before I began editing. The narration script changed considerably during the
post-production stage, but the structure of the film remained essentially as
I had written it. I had experienced an enormous amount of anxiety and tension
during my three month stay in Johannesburg and I wanted to capture some of this
tension in the film. I knew that what I was proposing was dangerous and the
outcome was completely unpredictable, and I wanted the feeling of that to be
in the finished film. I also confronted a complex web of legal and ethical issues
along the way and included some of this process in the film. I knew that however
it played out, I was searching for some form of closure so that the effects
of what happened that night could finally begin to heal.
Story-telling elements
It was my intention all along to make this story accessible to the widest possible
audience, and I therefore decided on a strong narrative structure and looked
deliberately for the suspense as well as the quirky and unexpected elements
in the telling of the story. I wanted the film to be uplifting and empowering
and not a depressing experience for the audience. I also focussed on a wide
range of community reactions to this crime, particularly the response of men.
My brother became a major character, as I realised that so often in the case
of sexual assault, men are at a loss as to how to respond and what they can
do to help. The response of Laura’s neighbours and community raised the
very important issue of blame, and I was very fortunate that Cecily was willing
to co-operate and that she so quickly understood the importance of acknowledgement
and apology. This issue was a lot more complex with my brother, but he finally
accepted that other men may relate to his predicament and that what I was doing
with the film would be helpful to his relationship with his mother.
The need for some form of justice
Some people have asked, why do this after fourteen years? My mother has answered
the question well: "People don't forget when traumatic events hit their
lives. There are still people looking for resolution to atrocities that occurred
during the Second World War 60 years ago. These experiences and the impact they
have on our lives don't have a 'use-by' date". I believe there is a fundamental
need in all humans to believe in some form of justice, be it legal, moral or
spiritual. I went in search of and found a form of justice for my mother and
in the process reaffirmed my faith in the fundamental decency of human nature.
The film’s style and portrayal of Johannesburg
The backdrop of the film was the city of Johannesburg where I grew up. It was
captured in a refreshing way by one of South Africa's top DOPs, Ian Miller.
We decided to use the many large billboards in and around the city to portray
some of the new and complex spirit of the city.
So often Johannesburg is depicted only as a city of barbed wire and high security
fences with people cowering in fear behind the overwhelming crime rate. I wanted
to show a different side to the place, but I could not ignore the facts. Johannesburg
is widely regarded as one of the most violent cities in the world and sexual
assault has reached epidemic proportions. Conservative reports estimate that
a woman is raped there every 26 seconds.
However, what I saw on the second trip was a city emerging from this strangle-hold
of fear and violence. Rather than just hiding behind their high walls, increasingly
people were facing the problems head-on and rejoicing in a new spirit of hope
and optimism about the future. It was like looking at the city after a fire.
Instead of just seeing the charred remains, I was able to see the small green
buds of new growth emerging everywhere. There are undoubtedly enormous problems
in South Africa, particularly the overwhelming AIDS epidemic and the unacceptable
levels of crime and sexual assault. But everywhere people are working to combat
and alleviate the problems with an infectious combination of hope and faith.
Some of this rises from the legacy of ex-president Nelson Mandela who still
maintains a powerful presence in the country. It is also supported by the knowledge
that grass roots organisations and mass protests help defeat the atrocities
of the apartheid system and remove the old regime. They believe they can confront
the present problems with the same determination and win. Music, theatre and
mass protest actions, so successfully used in the anti-apartheid struggle, are
now being used to address the issues of AIDS and sexual assault.
The music
The music in the film is a complex and unexpected mix of African choral music,
Chopin and specially written suspense music. The African music was sourced from
churches in Tzaneen, and Alexandria and the protest music from a youth theatre
group based in Tembisa on the outskirts of Johannesburg. Melbourne based South
African singer Valanga Khosa, was in Johannesburg while I was there and he and
his partner Andrea Watson contributed some of the music. The suspense music
was written by local musician Andrew Richards, and the Chopin was played by
Deirdre Paillas and Laura Henkel.
My hopes for this film
I have been actively developing this project since November 2000, but have wanted
to make this film since 1990 when I realised the power of documentary in using
the personal and particular to illuminate wider, universal issues that affect
us all. The statistics for sexual assault in Australia are unacceptably high,
and yet they represent only a portion of actual occurrences. One reason why
this crime remains so hidden is the extremely small percentage of successful
prosecutions in these cases, as well as the feelings of guilt and shame associated
with this type of crime. Many women fear they will be blamed or not believed
when they report this crime and if they do, they will undergo a traumatic experience
in the justice system with little chance of success. So sexual assault remains
the most hidden and fastest growing crime worldwide. I hope in this film to
expose this situation through my mother's case and to suggest some reasons why
this is occurring. I hope that the answers will resonate beyond the South African
example and shed light on this complex problem for people around the world.
Cathy Henkel
Director
Hatchling Productions
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