'Unspoken War' documentary breaks the silence of SA history

The Showmax series Unspoken War dives into the physical and psychological impact of South Africa’s border war on combatants and their families – using a diversity of voices to tell the story of a somewhat contested part of the country's history.

Director Nikki Comninos explains the timing of the series...

"We realised that so many of the people who knew exactly what was going on were passing away, that a generation was taking a lot of answers to the grave – so we realised that it would be important to start engaging with people and trying to create a record of the past, so that younger generations know the legacy of what they're dealing with."

While the war essentially took place from 1966 to 1989, very few people are aware of the details of it, as it's almost never spoken about (hence the title of the documentary), and yet Comninos says it was not too challenging to get people to share their stories.

"Almost everybody has a connection to the war, and anybody we spoke to almost felt like they needed to get something off their chest.

"Getting trust to get the deeper story was difficult, but we really did find that there were a lot of people who wanted to talk."

Junior producer of the show, Minette van der Walt, also participated in the project as she had a personal connection to the war through her father, and learned a few things she had been unaware of before.

"We knew that my father, like many others in the country, had to go – he was conscripted at the right age... we didn't know where he was, what he did, and we didn't know how big the impact of what happened to him there was on his life."

Comninos also made a personal discovery of her own about her mother, who was involved in a media capacity.

To listen to Comninos and Van der Walt in conversation with Pippa Hudson on CapeTalk, click the audio below: