''The Story of an African Farm'', released in the United States as ''Bustin' Bonaparte: The Story of an African Farm'',
Retrieved 2011-08-06 is a 2004 South African film directed by David Lister and based on the 1883 novel of the same name by South African author

Olive Schreiner Olive Schreiner (24 March 1855 – 11 December 1920) was a South African author, pacifist, anti-war campaigner and intellectual. She is best remembered today for her novel ''The Story of an African Farm'' (1883), which has been highly acclaimed ...

Plot

The setting is a farm on the slopes of a Karoo Kopje, South Africa, during the 1870s. Fat Tant Sannie ( Karin van der Laag) looks after her charges, the sweet Em ( Anneke Weidemann) and the independent Lyndall (

Kasha Kropinski Kasha Kropinski (born Katarzynka Kropiński 1991) is a South African actress and a classical ballerina. Personal life Kasha was born in South Africa, the daughter of Jacek Kropiński and Debbie Cochrane. Jacek is a filmmaker and Debbie is a for ...

), with a strict Biblical hand - it was Em's father's dying wish. Gentle Otto (

Armin Mueller-Stahl Armin Mueller-Stahl (born 17 December 1930) is a retired German film actor, painter and author, who also appeared in numerous English-language films since the 1980s. He was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for his role i ...

), the farm manager, runs the farm and cares for Waldo, his son. Waldo ( Luke Gallant) is bright, and busy building a model of a sheep-shearing machine that he hopes will make them all rich. Things change when the sinister, eccentric Bonaparte Blenkins (

Richard E. Grant Richard E. Grant (born Richard Grant Esterhuysen; 5 May 1957) is a Swazi-English actor and presenter. He made his film debut as Withnail in the comedy ''Withnail and I'' (1987). Grant received critical acclaim for his role as Jack Hock in Marie ...

) with bulbous nose and chimney pot hat arrives. Their childhood is disrupted by the bombastic Irishman who claims blood ties with Wellington and Queen Victoria and so gains uncanny influence over the girls' gross stupid stepmother, Tant Sannie. As the story of Lyndall, Em and Waldo unfolds to its touching end, we learn not merely of a backwater in colonial history, but of the whole human condition. Olive Schreiner's intense story of three children living in the African veldt has often been compared to Emily Brontë's

Wuthering Heights ''Wuthering Heights'' is an 1847 novel by Emily Brontë, initially published under her pen name Ellis Bell. It concerns two families of the landed gentry living on the West Yorkshire moorland, moors, the Earnshaws and the Lintons, and their tur ...

. Wildly controversial at publication (1883) because of its feminist sentiments, the story has remained a touching and often wickedly funny portrayal of life on a late Victorian farm in South Africa.

Cast

as Otto *

as Bonaparte Blenkins * Karin van der Laag as Tant Sannie *

as Lyndall * Luke Gallant .as Waldo * Anneke Weidemann as Em * Elriza Swanepoel as Trana * Nichol Petersen as Tant Sannie's Maid * Chris-Jan Steenkamp as Sheep Shearer

References

External links

The official website
Retrieved 2011-08-06 * 2004 films English-language South African films Films based on South African novels 2000s English-language films Films about farmers Films set on farms Films directed by David Lister {{SouthAfrica-film-stub