ONE HUNDRED MEN

Story Synopsis

This colour DVD, 59-minute film documents the story of one hundred men who, in 1949, were recruited from the Island of St Helena in the South Atlantic to work as agricultural labourers in England. It weaves archival sources together with conversations with some of the surviving men, their respective wives, a daughter and an Oxfordshire farmer. A range of themes invoked by this unusual moment of migration within the British world -to do with race, identity, citizenship, and the meaning of Britishness- are explored through first-hand accounts and archival sources. The film moves back and forth between gardens and landscapes in both England and St Helena. The garden becomes a metaphor for reflecting upon the roots and routes of these Atlantic world characters and their multiple time-place associations and sense of belonging. As the characters talk about their encounters in rural England, reflect upon the meaning of this particular event and their unfolding histories, the film is also a meditation on identity, memory, time, home and belonging in Britain, St Helena and the Atlantic World.

One Hundred Men

Daniel Yon, Canada, 2007

Production Company:

South Atlantic World Productions

272 Westmount Avenue

Toronto, Canada M6E 3N1

Tel: +1 416 651 3399