ABSTRACT
When Jans Rautenbach decided to leave his job as a criminologist in Pretoria's Central Prison in 1963 and become a filmmaker, South African cinema was caught in the stranglehold of a government subsidy system that favoured escapist entertainment. Rautenbach was forging a distinctive filmic identity not only through the confrontational nature of the stories he told, but also through a gift for cinematic storytelling. Repeatedly, the striking composition, the unexpected edit, or the innovative relationship between image and soundtrack asserts itself, unsettling our response. Nowhere are these elements of Rautenbach's style more sustained than in Jannie Totsiens, set in a mental hospital. Readings of the film invariably describe it as an allegory of apartheid South Africa, the country as a madhouse ruled by deranged autocrats. Jannie's own face is repeatedly the focus of attention. For Frans, painting stripes on Jannie's face will bring him to life.
